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Look you here, 
Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors. 

— Act III. Scene 2. 



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SHAKESPEARE 



JULIUS C^SAR 



EDITED WITH A LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE, AN ACCOUNT OF 

THE THEATRE IN HIS TIME, AND NUMEROUS 

AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE PLAY 



BY 



SAMUEL THURBER, Jr. 

NEWTON TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, NEWTONVILLE 
MASSACHUSETTS 



ALLYN AND BACON 



^^^^^o' 



COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY 
SAMUEL THURBER, Jr. 



/- 



FEB2t3'iyi9 



Notbjootj Iprcsis 

J. S. Gushing Co. —Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



FOREWORD 

In revising my father's edition of '* Julius Caesar," I 
^ have been influenced by changed conditions of English 
r^ teaching in high schools since the time when his work was 
j- done. The greater number of pupils, the consequent in- 
adequacy of reference material, the more general and less 
specialized literary preparation, and the broader aims and 
ideals of the rising generation, — all these conditions de- 
mand a different type of annotation from that of twenty- 
five years ago. 

My own recent problems in teaching '^ Julius Caesar" 
with college preparatory, commercial, and technical classes 
have led me to include in the present edition the following 
six features not found in my father's work : a fuller and 
more informational array of notes ; a study of the structural 
elements of the play ; a discussion of the sources of the 
tragedy, withnumerous quotations from North's " Plutarch " ; 
a list of famiUar quotations from '' Julius Caesar " ; an 
account of Shakespeare, the man, — his life, work, repu- 
tation, and the theatre for which he wTote ; and finally a 
list of practical, usable topics for oral and written compo- 
sition. These six new features will be found in the appen- 
dix following the text of the play. 

It is hoped that this additional material will not only in- 
crease the interest of the student, but that it will also 
lighten the labor of the teacher. 

Samuel Thurber, Jr. 
iii 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

List of Illustrations '. v 

Milton's "Shakespeare" vii 

List of Characters viii, 98 

JULIUS C^SAR 1 



Appendix 



The Writing and Publication of *' Julius Caesar " 
Sources of " Julius Caesar "... 
Selections from North's " Plutarch " . 
Familiar Passages in " Julius Caesar " 
What We Know about Shakespeare . 
Shakespeare's Plays and Poems 
Shakespeare's Popularity in His Own Day 
Shakespeare's Fame since His Death 
The Theatre of Shakespeare's Day . 
Books of Interest to Students of Shakespeare 



Explanatory Notes . . . . 
Subjects for Oral and Written Compositions 



101 
103 
108 
116 
119 
132 
146 
151 
160 
182 

185 
263 



IV 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Look you here. 
Here is himself , marred, as you see, with traitors. 

— Act III, Scene 2 . . Frontispiece 

PAGB 

Speak, what trade art thou ? 

— Act I, Scene 1 1 

Against the Capitol I met a lion, 

Who glared upon me, and went surly by. 

— Act I, Scene 3 16 

O Caesar! these things are beyond all use, 
And I do fear them. 

— Act II, Scene 2 . , . . 34 

constancy, be strong upon my side. 

— Act II, Scene 4 .... 39 

And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, 
Lefs all cry ' ' Peace, freedom, and liberty / " 

— Act III, Scene 1 . . . .47 

Welcome, Mark Antony. 

— Act III, Scene 1 . . . .49 

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony. 

— Act III, Scene 2 . . . .56 

He shall not Hue ; look, with a spot I damn him. 

— Act IV, Scene 1 .... 66 

Thou shall see me at Philippi. 

— Act IV, Scene 3 .... 81 



List of Illustrations. 



Now, Antony, our hopes are answered. 

— Act V, Scene 1 

Titinius is enclosed round about 

With horsemen, that make to him on the spur. 

— Act V, Scene 3 

This was the noblest Roman of them all. 

— Act V, Scene 5 



83 



89 



. 96 

FACING PAGE 
. 122 



Shakespeare's House at Stratford-on-Avon .... 

The Room where Shakespeare Was Born .... 122 

Anne Hathaway's Cottage at Shottery 124 

Interior of Anne Hathaway's Cottage 124 

Holy Trinity Parish Church, Stratford-on-Avon . . . 130 

Inscription on Shakespeare's Tomb ...... 130 

Inscription on Shakespeare's Monument, Trinity Church, 

Stratford-on-Avon ........ 130 

The Globe Theatre . . . 168 

, Interior of an Elizabethan Theatre ...... 168 



VI 



SHAKESPEARE 

What needs my Shakespeare for his honored bones 

The labor of an age in pil^d stones ? 

Or that his hallowed rehques should be hid 

Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 

Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 

What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ? 

Thou in our wonder and astonishment 

Hast built thyself a live-long monument. 

For whilst to the shame of slow-endeavoring art 

Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart 

Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 

Those Delphic lines with deep impression took, 

Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, 

Dost make us marble with too much conceiving ; 

And, so sepiilchred, in such pomp dost lie 

That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 

JOHN MILTON. 



Vll 



JULIUS C^SAR. 



DRAMATIS PERSONiE. 



Julius C^sar, 






A Soothsayer. 






triumvirs 


CiNNA, a Poet. Another Poet. 


OCTAVIUS C^SAR, 


after the 


LUCILIUS, 




Marcus Antonius, 


death of 


TiTINIUS, 


friends to 


M. iEMiLius Lepidus, 


Julius 


Messala, 


Brutus and 




Caesar. 


Young Cato, 


Cassius. 


Cicero, ^ 


VOLUMNIUS, 




PuBLius, senators. 


Varro, 




PopiLius Lena, J 


Clitus, 




Marcus Brutus, 




Claudius, 


servants to 


Cassius, 




Strato, 


Brutus. 


Casca, 


conspirators 


Lucius, 




Trebonius, 


against 


Dardanius, 




LiGARIUS, 


Julius 


Pindarus, servant to Cassius. 


Decius Brutus, 


Caesar. « 


Calpurnia, wife to Caesar. 


Metellus Cimber, 




Portia, wife to Brutus. 


CiNNA, J 




Senators, Citizens, Guards, At- 


Flavius and Marullus, tri- 


tendants, etc. 


bunes. 


Scene : Rome; the neighborhood 


Artemidorus of Cnidos, a 


of Sardis ; ,the neighborhood 


teacher of Rhe 


tor 


ic. 


of Philippi, 





ACT I. 

Scene I. Rome. A Street. 

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners. 

Flav. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get you home : 
Is this a holiday ? what ! know you not, 
Being mechanical, you ought not walk 
Upon a laboring day without the sign 
Of your profession ? Speak, what trade art thou ? 5 




Speak, what trade art thou ? 

— Act I. Scene I. 

First Com, Why, sir, a carpenter. 

Mar, Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? 
What dost thou with thy best apparel on ? 
You, sir, what trade are you ? 

I 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 1. 

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I 
am but, as you would say, a cobbler. 

Mar. But what trade art thou ? answer me directly. 

Sec, Com, A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a 
safe conscience ; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. 

Mar. What trade, thou knave ? thou naughty knave, 
what trade ? 

Sec, Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with 
me : yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 

Mar. What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou 
saucy fellow ! 

Sec. Com, Why, sir, cobble you. 20 

Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou ? 

Sec, Com, Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the 
awl : I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's 
matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to 
old shoes ; when they are in great danger, I recover them. 
As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone 
upon my handiwork. 

Flav, But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day ? 
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets ? 

Sec, Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get 
myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we make holi- 
day to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph. 

Mar. Wherefore rejoice ? What conquest brings he 
home ? 
What tributaries follow him to Rome, 
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels ? 35 

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ! 
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft 
Have you climbed up to walls and battlements, 

2 



Act I, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, 40 

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 

The Hve-long day, with patient expectation, 

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome : 

And when you saw his chariot but appear, 

Have you not made an universal shout, 45 

That Tiber trembled underneath her banks. 

To hear the replication of your sounds 

Made in her concave shores ? 

And do you now put on your best attire ? 

And do you now cull out a holiday ? 50 

And do you now strew flowers in his way 

That comes in triumph over Pompey 's blood? 

Be gone ! 

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees. 

Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 55 

That needs must light on this ingratitude. 

Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault. 
Assemble all the poor men of your sort ; 
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears 
Into the channel, till the lowest stream 60 

Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. 

\_Exeunt all the Commoners, 
See, whether their basest metal be not moved ; 
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. 
Go you down that way towards the Capitol ; 
This way will I : disrobe the images, 65 

If you do find them decked wdth ceremonies. 

Mar. May we do so ? 
You know it is the feast of Lupercal. 

Flav. It is no matter ; let no images 
Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about, 70 

3 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2. 

And drive away the vulgar from the streets : 
So do you too, where you perceive them thick. 
>^hese growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing 
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, 

Who else would soar above the view of men 75 

And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt, 



Scene II. A public place. 

Flourish. Enter Caesar; Antony, /(^r the course; Cal- 
PURNIA, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, 
and Casca ; a great crowd following^ among them a 
Soothsayer. 

Cces. Calpurnia ! 

Casca. Peace, ho ! Caesar speaks. 

Cces. Calpurnia ! 

CaL Here ! my lord. 

Cces. Stand you directly in Antonius' way. 
When he doth run his course. Antonius ! 

Ant. Caesar, my lord ? 

Cces. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, 
To touch 'Calpurnia ; for our elders say. 
The barren, touched in this holy chase. 
Shake off their sterile curse. 

Ant. I shall remember : 

When Caesar says " do this," it is performed. 10 

Cces. Set on ; and leave no ceremony out. [Flourish, 

Sooth. Caesar I • 

Cces. Ha ! who calls ? 

Casca. Bid every noise be still : peace yet again ! 

Cces. Who is it in the press that calls on me ? 15 

4 



Act I, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, 

Cry " Caesar ! " Speak ; Caesar is turned to hear. 

Sooth. Beware the ides of March. 

CcEs. What man is that ? 

Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. 

Cces, Set him before me ; let me see his face. 20 

Cas. Fellow, come from the throng ; look upon. Caesar. 

CcEs, What say'st thou to me now ? speak once again. 

Sooth. Beware the ides of March. 

Cces, He is a dreamer ; let us leave him : pass. 

\_Sennet. Exeimt all but Brutus and Cassius. 

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course ? 25 

Bru. Not I. 

Cas. I pray you, do. 

Bru. I am not gamesome : I do lack some part 
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. 
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires ; 30 

I'll leave you. 

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 
I have not from your eyes that gentleness 
And show of love as I was wont to have : 
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 35 

Over your friend that loves you. 

Bru. Cassius, 

Be not deceived : if I have veiled my look, 
I turn the trouble of my countenance 
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am 

Of late with passions of some difference, 40 

Conceptions only proper to myself. 
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors ; 
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved — . 
Among which number, Cassius, be you one — 

5 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2. 

Nor construe any further my neglect, 45 

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war. 
Forgets the shows of love to other men. 

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ; 
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried 
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 50 

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face ? 

Bru. No, Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself, 
But by reflection, by some other things. 

Cas, 'T is just : 
And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 55 

That you have no such mirrors as will turn 
Your hidden worthiness into your eye. 
That you might see your shadow. I have heard, 
Where many of the best respect in Rome, 
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus 60 

And groaning underneath this age's yoke, 
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes. 

Brti. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, 
That you would have me seek into myself 
For that which is not in me ? 65 

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear : 
And since you know you cannot see yourself 
So well as by reflection, I, your glass. 
Will modestly discover to yourself 

That of yourself which you yet know not of. 70 

And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus : 
Were I a common laugher, or did use 
To stale with ordinary oaths my love 
To every new protester ; if you know 

That I do fawn on men and hug them hard, 75 

And after scandal them ; or if you know 

6 



Act I, Scene 2. JuHus Caesar. 

That I profess myself in banqueting 
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. 

\Flourish and shout. 

Bru. What means this shouting ? I do fear, the people 
Choose Caesar for their king. 

Cas. Ay, do you fear it ? 80 

Then must I think you would not have it so. 

Brti, I would not, Cassius ; yet I love him well. 
But wherefore do you hold me here so long ? 
What is it that you would impart to me ? 
If it be ought toward the general good, 85 

Set honor in one eye and death i' the other, 
And I will look on both indifferently : 
For let the gods so speed me as I love 
The name of honor more than I fear death. 

Cas, I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90 

As well as I do know your outward favor. 
Well, honor is the subject of my story. 
I cannot tell what you and other men 
Think of this life ; but, for my single self, 
I had as lief not be as live to be 95 

In awe of such a thing as I myself. 
I was born free as Caesar ; so were you : 
We both have fed as well, and we can both 
Endure the winter's cold as well as he : 
For once, upon a raw and gusty day, 100 

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, 
Caesar said to me, " Barest thou, Cassius, now 
Leap in with me into this angry flood, 
And swim to yonder point ? " Upon the word. 
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in 105 

And bade him follow ; so indeed he did. 

7 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2 

The torrent roared, and we did buffet it 

With lusty sinews, throwing it aside 

And stemming it with hearts of controversy ; 

But ere we could arrive the point proposed, 

Caesar cried, ^' Help me, Cassius, or I sink 1 " 

I, as Tineas, our great ancestor. 

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder 

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber 

Did I the tired Caesar : and this man 115 

Is now become a god, and Cassius is 

A wretched creature and must bend his body. 

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 

He had a fever when he was in Spain, 

And when the fit was on him, I did mark 120 

How he did shake : 'tis true, this god did shake : 

His coward lips did from their color fly. 

And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world 

Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan : 

Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans 125 

Mark him and write his speeches in their books, 

Alas, it cried, ^' Give me some drink, Titinius," 

As a sick girl. Ye gods ! it doth amaze me 

A man of such a feeble temper should 

So get the start of the majestic world 130 

And bear the palm alone. {^Shout. Flourish. 

Bru. Another general shout 1 
I do believe that these applauses are 
For some new honors that are heaped on Caesar. 

Cas, Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 135 
Like a Colossus, and we petty men 
Walk under his huge legs and peep about 
To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 

8 



Act I, Scene 2. JuIius Caesar. 

Men at some time are masters of their fates : 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 140 

But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 

Brutus and Caesar : what should be in that " Caesar" ? 

Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 

Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; 

Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well ; 145 

Weigh them, it is as heavy ; conjure with 'em, 

Brutus will start a spirit soon as Caesar. 

Now, in the names of all the gods at once,- 

Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 

That he is grown so great ? Age, thou art shamed ! 150 

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! 

When went there by an age, since the great flood. 

But it was famed with more than with one man ? 

When could they say till now, that talked of Rome, 

That her wide walls encompassed but one man ? 155 

Now is it Rome indeed and room enough. 

When there is in it but one only man. 

O, you and I have heard our fathers say, 

There was a Brutus once that would have brooked 

The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 160 

As easily as a king. 

Bru, That you do love me, I am nothing jealous ; 
What you would work me to, I have some aim : 
How I have thought of this and of these times, 
I shall recount hereafter ; for this present, 165 

I would not, so with love I might entreat you. 
Be any further moved. What you have said 
I will consider ; what you have to say 
I will with patience hear, and find a time 
Both meet to hear and answer such high things. 170 

9 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2. 

Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this : 

Brutus had rather be a villager 

Than to repute himself a son of Rome 

Under these hard conditions as this time 

Is like to lay upon us. 175 

Cas, I am glad that my weak words 
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus. 

Bi'u, The games are done and Caesar is returning. 

Cas, As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve ; 
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you 180 

What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. 

Re-enter Caesar and his Train. 

Bru. I will do so. But, look you, Cassius, 
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow, 
And all the rest look like a chidden train : 
Calpurnia's cheek is pale ; and Cicero 185 

Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes 
As we have seen him in the Capitol, 
Being crossed in conference by some senators. 

Cas, Casca will tell us what the matter is. 

Cces. Antonius ! 190 

Ant. Caesar ? 

Cces, Let me have men about me that are fat, 
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights : 
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; 
He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. 195 

Ant, Fear him not, Caesar ; he's not dangerous ; 
He is a noble Roman and well given. 

C(£s. Would he were fatter ! But I fear him not : 
Yet if my name were liable to fear, 

I do not know the man I should avoid 200 

10 



Act I, Scene 2. JuHus Caesar. 

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much ; 

He is a great observer, and he looks 

Quite through the deeds of men ; he loves no plays, 

As thou dost, Antony ; he hears no music ; 

Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort 205 

As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit 

That could be moved to smile at any thing. 

Such men as he be never at heart's ease 

Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, 

And therefore are they very dangerous. 210 

I rather tell thee what is to be feared 

Than what I fear ; for always I am Caesar. 

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf. 

And tell me truly what thou think'st of him. 

\_Sennet, Exeunt Ccesar and all his Train but Casca, 

Casca. You pulled me by the cloak ; would you speak 
with me ? 

Bru, Ay, Casca ; tell us what hath chanced to-day. 
That Caesar looks so sad. 

Casca, Why, you were with him, were you not ? 218 

Bru, I should not then ask Casca what had chanced. 

Casca, Why, there was a crown offered him : and be- 
ing offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, 
thus ; and then the people fell a-shouting. 

Bru, What was the second noise for ? 

Casca, Why, for that too. 

Cas, They shouted thrice ; what was the last cry for ? 

Casca. Why, for that too. 

Bru, Was the crown offered him thrice ? 
^ Casca, Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every 
time gentler than other ; and at every putting-by mine 
honest neighbors shouted. 230 

II 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2. 

Cas. Who offered him the crown ? 

Casca. Why, Antony. 

Brii, Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. 

Casca, I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of 
it : it was mere foolery ; I did not mark it. I saw Mark 
Antony offer him a crown; — yet 'twas not a crown 
neither, 'twas one of these coronets ; — and, as I told you, 
he put it by once : but, for all that, to my thinking, he 
would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again ; 
then he put it by again; but, to my thinking, he was 
very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered 
it the third time; he put it the third time by: and still 
as he refused it, the rabblement shouted and clapped their 
chopt hands and threw up their sweaty nightcaps, and 
uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar re- 
fused the crown, that it had almost choked Caesar; for 
he swounded and fell down at it ; and for mine own part, 
I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiv- 
ing the bad air. 249 

Cas, But, soft, I pray you : what, did Caesar swound ? 

Casca, He fell down in the market-place, and foamed 
at mouth, and was speechless. 

B^u, 'Tis very like: he hath the falling-sickness. 

Ccus. No, Caesar hath it not ; but you, and I, 
And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 255 

Casca, I know not what you mean by that ; but, I 
am sure Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not 
clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and dis- 
pleased them, as they used to do the players in the theatre, 
I am no true man. 260 

Bru, What said he when he came unto himself ? 

Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived 

12 



Act I, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he 
plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to 
cut. An I had been a man of any occupation, if I would 
not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell 
among the rogues. And so he fell. When he came to 
himself again, he said. If he had done or said any thing 
amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his infir- 
mity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, '' Alas, 
good soul!" and forgave him with all their hearts : but 
there's no heed to be taken of them ; if Caesar had stabbed 
their mothers, they would have done no less. 273 

Bru, And after that, he came, thus sad, away ? 

Casca. Ay. 

Cas, Did Cicero say any thing ? 

Casca, Ay, he spoke Greek. 

Cas, To what effect 1 278 

Casca, Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the 
face again : but those that understood him smiled at one 
another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, 
it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: 
MaruUus and Flavins, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's 
images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was 
more foolery yet, if I could remember it. 285 

Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca ? 

Casca, No, I am promised forth. 

Cas, Will you dine with me to-morrow ? 

Casca, Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your 
dinner worth the eating. 290 

Cas, Good : I will expect you. 

Casca. Do so. Farewell, both. \^Exit, 

Bru, What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! 
He was quick mettle when he went to school. 

13 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 2. 

Cas. So is he now in execution 295 

Of any bold or noble enterprise, 
However he puts on this tardy form. 
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, 
Which gives men stomach to digest his words 
With better appetite. 300 

Bru, And so it is. For this time I will leave you : 
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, 
I will come home to you ; or, if you wall, 
Come home to me, and I will wait for you. 

Cas, I will do so : till then, think of the world. 305 

[Exit Brutus, 
Well, Brutus, thou art noble ; yet, I see, 
Thy honorable metal may be wrought 
From that it is disposed : therefore it is meet 
That noble minds keep ever with their likes ; 
For who so firm that cannot be seduced ? 310 

Caesar doth bear me hard ; but he loves Brutus : 
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, 
He should not humor me. I will this night, 
In several hands, in at his windows throw. 
As if they came from several citizens, 315 

Writings all tending to the great opinion 
That Rome holds of his name ; wherein obscurely 
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at : 
And after this let Caesar seat him sure ; 319 

For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [Exit. 



H 



Act I, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 



Scene III. The same. A street. 

Thunder and lightning. Enter ^ from opposite sides ^ Casca, 
with his sword drawn^ and Cicero. 

Cic. Good even, Casca : brought you Caesar home ? 
Why are you breathless ? and why stare you so ? 

Casca. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth 
Shakes like a thing unfirm ? O Cicero, 
I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds 5 

Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen 
The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, 
To be exalted with the threatening clouds : 
But never till to-night, never till now. 

Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. 10 

Either there is a civil strife in heaven. 
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods. 
Incenses them to send destruction. 

Cic. Why, saw you anything more wonderful ? 

Casca, A common slave — you know him well by sight — 
Held up his left hand, w^hich did flame and burn 
Like twenty torches joined, and yet his hand. 
Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched. 
Besides — I ha' not since put up my sword — 
Against the Capitol I met a lion, 20 

Who glared upon me, and went surly by. 
Without annoying me: and there were drawn 
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women. 
Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw 
Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. 25 

And yesterday the bird of night did sit 
Even at noon-day upon the market place, 

15 



Julius Caesar. 



Act I, Scene 3. 



Hooting and shrieking. When those prodigies 

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, 

" These are their reasons ; they are natural ; " 



30 




Against the Capitol I met a lion, 

Who glared upon me, and went surly by. 

— Act I. Scene 3. 

For, I believe, they are portentous things 
Unto the climate that they point upon. 

Cic, Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time : 
But men may construe things after their fashion. 
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. 
Comes Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow ? 

Casca. He doth ; for he did bid Antonius 
Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. 

16 



35 



Act I, Scene 3. JuHus Caesar. 

Cic. Good night, then, Casca : this disturbed sky 
Is not to walk in. 

Casca. Farewell, Cicero. \Exit Cicero. 40 

Enter Cassius. 

Cas, Who's there ? 

Casca. A Roman. 

Cas. Casca, by your voice. 

Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this 1 

Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. 

Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? 

Cas, Those that have known the earth so full of faults. 
For my part, I have walked about the streets, 
Submitting me unto the perilous night, 
And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see. 
Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone ; 
And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open 50 

The breast of heaven, I did present myself 
Even in the aim and very flash of it. [heavens ? 

Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the 
It is the part of men to fear and tremble, 
When the most mighty gods by tokens send 55 

Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. 

Cas ^r,Yow are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life 
That should be in a Roman you do want, 
Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze 
And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder, 60 

To see the strange impatience of the heavens : 
But if you would consider the true cause 
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts. 
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind, 
Why old men fool and children calculate, 65 

17 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 3. 

Why all these things change from their ordinance 

Their natures and preformed faculties, 

To monstrous quality, why, you shall find 

That heaven hath infused them with these spirits, 

To make them instruments of fear and warning 70 

Unto some monstrous state. 

Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man 

Most like this dreadful night. 

That thunders, Hghtens, opens graves, and roars 

As doth the lion in the Capitol ; 75 

A man no mightier than thyself or me 

In personal action, yet prodigious grown 

And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. 

Casca. 'Tis Caesar that you mean ; is it not, Cassius ? 

Cas, Let it be who it is : for Romans now 80 

Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; 
But, woe the while ! our fathers' minds are dead, 
And we are governed with our mothers' spirits ; 
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. 

Casca. Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow 85 

Mean to establish Caesar as a king ; 
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land. 
In every place save here in Italy. 

Cas. I know where I will wear this dagger then ; 
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius : 90 

Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; 
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat : 
No stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, 
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, 
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit ; 95 

But life, being weary of these worldly bars. 
Never lacks power to dismiss itself. 

18 



Act I, Scene 3. JuHus Caesar. 

If I know this, know all the world besides, 

That part of tyranny that I do bear 

I can shake off at pleasure. \Thunder stilL 

Casca. So can I : loo 

So every bondman in his own hand bears 
The power to cancel his captivity. 

Cas. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then ? 
Poor man ! I know he would not be a wolf, 
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep : 105 

He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. 
Those that with haste will make a mighty fire 
Begin it with weak straws : what trash is Rome, 
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves 
For the base matter to illuminate no 

So vile a thing as Caesar ! But, O grief. 
Where hast thou led me ? I perhaps speak this 
Before a willing bondman ; then I know 
My answer must be made. But I am armed, 
And dangers are to me indifferent. 115 

Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man 
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand : 
Be factious for redress of all these griefs. 
And I will set this foot of mine as far 
As who goes farthest. 

Cas. There's a bargain made. 120 

Now know you, Casca, I have moved already 
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans 
To undergo with me an enterprise 
Of honorable-dangerous consequence ; 
And I do know, by this they stay for me 125 

In Pompey's porch : for now, this fearful night, 
There is no stir or walking in the streets ; 

19 



Julius Caesar. Act I, Scene 3. 

And the complexion of the element 

In favor's like the work we have in hand, 

Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. 130 

Enter Cinna. 

Casca. Stand close aw^hile, for here comes one in haste. 

Cas. 'Tis Cinna ; I do know him by his gait ; 
He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so ? 

Cin. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber? 

Cas. No, it is Casca ; one incorporate 135 

To our attempts. Am I not stayed for, Cinna ? 

Cin. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this ! 
There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. 

Cas, Am I not stayed for ? tell me. 

Cin. Yes, you are. 

O Cassius, if you could 140 

But win the noble Brutus to our party — 

Cas, Be you content : good Cinna, take this paper, 
And look you lay it in the praetor's chair. 
Where Brutus may but find it ; and throw this 
In at his window ; set this up with wax 145 

Upon old Brutus' statue ; all this done. 
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us. 
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there ? 

Cin. All but Metellus Cimber ; and he's gone 
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, 150 

And so bestow these papers as you bade me. 

Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. \^Exit 

Come, .Casca, you and I will yet ere day Cinna. 

See Brutus at his house : three parts of him 
Is ours already, and the man entire 155 

Upon the next encounter yields him ours. 

20 



Act II, Scene 1. Julius Cacsar. 

Casca, O, he sits high in all the people's hearts : 
And that which would appear offence in us 
His countenance, like richest alchemy, 
Will change to virtue and to worthiness. i6o 

Cas. Him and his worth and our great need of him 
You have right well conceited. Let us go, 
For it is after midnight ; and ere day 
We will awake him and be sure of him. \_Exeunt 



ACT II. 

Scene I. Rome, Brutus' orchard. 

Enter Brutus. 

Bru. What, Lucius, ho ! 
I cannot, by the progress of the stars, 
Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say ! 
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly. 
When, Lucius, when ? awake, I say ! what, Lucius ! 5 

Enter Lucius. 

Luc, Called you, my lord ? 

Bru, Get me a taper in my study, Lucius : 
When it is lighted, come and call me here. 

Luc, I will, my lord. \^Exit. 

Bru. It must be by his death : and for my part, 10 

I know no personal cause to spurn at him. 
But for the general. He would be crowned : 
How that might change his nature, there's the question. 
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; 
And that craves wary walking. Crown him ? — that ; — 15 
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him, 

21 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

That at his will he may do danger with. 

The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins 

Remorse from pow^r : and, to speak truth of Caesar, 

I have not known when his affections swayed 20 

More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof, 
j That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, 
f Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; 
^ But when he once attains the utmost round, 

He then unto the ladder turns his Ijack, 25 

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees 

By which he did ascend : so Caesar may ; 

Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel 

Will bear no color for the thing he is. 

Fashion it thus ; that what he is, augmented, 30 

^ Would run to these and these extremities : 
/ And therefore think him as a serpent's egg 

Which, hatched, w^ould, as his kind, grow mischievous. 

And kill him in the shell. 

Re-enter Lucius. 

Luc, The taper burneth in your closet, sir. 35 

Searching the window for a flint, I found 
This paper thus sealed up, and I am sure 
It did not lie there when I w^ent to bed. 

\_Gives him the letter. 

Bru, Get you to bed again ; it is not day. 
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March ? 40 

Luc, I know not, sir. 

Bru, Look in the calendar, and bring me word. 

Luc, I will, sir. {^Exit, 

Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air 
Give so much light that I may read by them. 45 

22 



Act II, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

\_Opens the letter and reads. 
*' Brutus, thou sleep'st : awake, and see thyself. 
Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress ! 
Brutus, thou sleep'st : awake ! " 
Such instigations have been often dropped 
Where I have took them up. 50 

" Shall Rome, etc." Thus must I piece it out : 
Shall Rome stand under one man's awe ? What, Rome ? 
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome 
The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king. 
" Speak, strike, redress ! " Am I entreated 55 

To speak and strike ? O Rome, I make thee promise ; 
If the redress will follow^ thou receivest 
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus ! 

Re-enter Lucius. 
Luc, Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. 

\_Knocking within, 
Bru, 'Tis good. Go to the gate ; somebody knocks. 60 

\_Exit Lucius, 
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, 
I have not slept. 

?etween the acting of a dreadful thing 
nd the first motion, all the interim is 
-^Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream : 65 

The genius and the mortal instruments 
Are then in council ; and the state of man, 
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 
The nature of an insurrection. 

Re-enter Lucius. 

Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, 70 

Who doth desire to see you. 

23 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

Bru. Is he alone ? 

Luc, No, sir, there are moe with him. 

Brii, Do you know them ? 

Luc, No, sir ; their hats are plucked about their ears. 
And half their faces buried in their cloaks. 
That by no means I may discover them 75 

By any mark of favor. 

Bru, Let 'em enter. \^Exit Lucius. 

They are the faction. O conspiracy, 
Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, 
When evils are most free ? O, then, by day 
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough 80 

To mask thy monstrous visage ? Seek none, conspiracy ; 
Hide it in smiles and affability : 
For if thou path, thy native semblance on, 
Not Erebus itself were dim enough 
To hide thee from prevention. 85 

Enter the Conspirators^ Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, 
Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius. 

Cas, I think we are too bold upon your rest : 
Good morrow, Brutus ; do we trouble you ? 

Bru. I have been up this hour, awake all night. 
Know I these men that come along with you ? 

Cas, Yes, every man of them : and no man here 90 
But honors you; and every one doth wish 
You had but that opinion of yourself 
Which every noble Roman bears of you. 
This is Trebonius. 

Bru, He is welcome hither. 

Cas. This, Decius Brutus. 

Bru, He is welcome too. 95 

24 



Act II, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

Cas, This, Casca ; this, Cinna ; and this, Metellus 
Cimber. 
» Bru. They are all welcome. \ 

What watchful cares do interpose themselves 
Betwixt your eyes and night ? 

Cas, Shall I entreat a word ? loo 

\_Briitus and Cassius whisper, 

Dec. Here lies the east : doth not the day break here ? 

Casca, No. . 

Cin, ^ O, pardon, sir, it doth ; and yon gray lines\ 
That fret the clouds are messengers of day. \ 

Casca, You shall confess that you are both deceived, 
were, as I point my sword, the sun arises. 
Which is a great way growing on the south, 
Weighing the youthful season of the year. 
Some two months hence up higher toward the north 
He first presents his fire ; and the high east no 

Stands, as the Capitol, directly here. 

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. 

Cas, And let us swear our resolution. 

Bru, No, not an oath : if not the face of men, 
The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse, — 115 

If these be motives weak, break off betimes, 
And every man hence to his idle bed ; 
So let high-sighted tyranny range on, 
Till ea ;h man drop by lottery. But if these. 
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough 120 

To kindle cowards and to steel with valor 
The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen. 
What need we any spur but our own cause, 
To prick us to redress ? what other bond 
Than secret Romans, that have spoke the word, 125 

25 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

And will not palter ? and what other oath 

Than honesty to honesty engaged, 

That this shall be, or we will fall for it ? 

Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous. 

Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls 130 

That welcome wrongs ; unto bad causes swear 

Such creatures as men doubt ; but do not stain 

The even virtue of our enterprise. 

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, 

To think that or our cause or our performance 135 

Did need an oath ; when every drop of blood 

That every Roman bears, and nobly bears, 

Is guilty of a several bastardy, ^ 

If he do break the smallest particle ^ 

Of any promise that hath passed from him. 140 

Cas, But what of Cicero ? shall we sound him ? 
I think he will stand very strong with us. 

Casca, Let us not leave him out. 

Cin. No, by no means. 

I Met. O, let us have him, for his silver hairs 
Avill purchase us a good opinion, 1 

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds : 
It shall be said, his judgment ruled our hands ; 
Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear. 
But all be buried in his gravity. 

Bru, O, name him not: let us not break with him. 
For he will never follow anything 15 

That other men begin. 

Cas, Then leave him out. 

Casca. Indeed he is not fit. 

Dec. Shall no man else be touched but only Caesar ? 

Cas. Decius, well urged : I think it is not meet, 155 

26 



Act II, Scene 1. JuHus Caesar. 

Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, 

Should outlive Caesar : we shall find of him 

A shrew^d contriver ; and, you know^, his means. 

If he improve them, may well stretch so far 

As to annoy us all : which to prevent, i6o 

Let Antony and Caesar fall together. 

^ Bru. Our course wall seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, 
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, ^ 
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards ; 
\For Antony is but a limb of Caesar ; Z' 165 

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius^ 
J^ ^e all stand up against the spirit of Caesar : 
'^.nd in the spirit of men there is no blood, 
* O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit, 
And not dismember Caesar I But, alas, 170 

Caesar must bleed for it 1 And, gentle friends, 
Let's kill him boldly, but not wTathfully ; 
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, 
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds : 
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, 175 

Stir up their servants to an act of rage, * 

And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make V 

Our purpose necessary and not envious : \ 

Which so appearing to the common eyes. 
We shall be called purgers, not murderers. i8c 

And for Mark Antony, think not of him ; 
For he can do no more than Caesar's arm 
When Caesar's head is off. 

Cas, Yet I fear him ; 

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar — 

Bru, Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him : 185 

If he love Caesar, all that he can do 

27 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

Is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar : 
And that were much he should ; for he is given 
To sports, to wildness, and much company. 

Treb. There is no fear in him ; let him not die ; 190 
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. \Clock strikes. 

Bru. Peace ! count the clock. 

Cas. The clock hath stricken three. 

Treb, 'Tis time to part. 

Cas. But it is doubtful yet. 

Whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no ; 
For he is superstitious grown of late, 195 

Quite from the main opinion he held once 
Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies : 
It may be, these apparent prodigies. 
The unaccustomed terror of this night, 
And the persuasion of his augurers, 200 

May hold him from the Capitol to-day. 

Dec, Never fear that ; if he be so resolved, 
I can o'ersway him ; for he loves to hear 
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees, 
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, 205 

Lions with toils, and men with flatterers; 
But when I tell him he hates flatterers. 
He says he does, being then most flattered. 
Let me work ; 

For I can give his humor the true bent, 210 

And I will bring him to the Capitol. 

Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. 

Bru. By the eighth hour : is that the uttermost ? 

Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. 

Met Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard, 215 

Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey : 

28 



Act II, Scene 1. Julius Caesaf. 

I wonder none of you have thought of him. 

Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him : 
He loves me well, and I have given him reasons ; 
Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him. [Brutus. 

Cas. The morning comes upon's : we'll leave you, 
And, friends, disperse yourselves ; but all remember 
What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans. 

Bru, Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily ; 
Let not our looks put on our purposes, 225 

But bear it as our Roman actors do. 
With untired spirits and formal constancy : 
And so good morrow to you every one. 

\_Exeunt all but Brutus, 
Boy ! Lucius ! Fast asleep ? It is no matter ; 
Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : 230 

Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies. 
Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; 
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. 

Enter Portia. 

Por, Brutus, my lord ! 

Bru, Portia, what mean you ? wherefore rise you now ? 
It is not for your health thus to commit 235 

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning. 

For, Nor for yours neither. You've un gently, Brutus, 
Stole from my bed : and yesternight at supper, 
Xou suddenly arose, and walked about. 
Musing and sighing, with your arms across ; 240 

And when I asked you what the matter was, 
You stared upon me with ungentle looks ; 
I urged you further ; then you scratched your head. 
And too impatiently stamped with your foot ; 

29 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

Yet I insisted, yet you answered not, 245 

But, with an angry wafture of your hand, 

Gave sign for me to leave you : so I did, 

Fearing to strengthen that impatience 

Which seemed too much enkindled, and withal 

Hoping it was but an effect of humor, 250 

Which sometime hath his hour with every man. 

It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep. 

And could it work so much upon your shape 

As it hath much prevailed on your condition, 

I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord, 255 

Make me acquainted with your cause of grief. 

Bru, I am not well in health, and that is all. 

For. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health. 
He would embrace the means to come by it. 

Bru, Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed. 260 

Por, Is Brutus sick ? and is it physical 
To walk unbraced and suck up the humors 
Of the dank morning ? What, is Brutus sick. 
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed, 
To dare the wild contagion of the night * 265 

And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air 
To add unto his sickness ? No, my Brutus ; 
You have some sick offence within your mind. 
Which, by the right and virtue of my place, 
I ought to know of : and, upon my knees, 270 

I charm you, by my once commended beauty, , 

By all your vows of love and that great vow 
Which did incorporate and make us one, 
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, 
Why you are heavy, and \yhat men to-night 275 

Have had resort to you : for here have been 

30 



Act II, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

Some six or seven, who did hide their faces 
Even from darkness. 

Bru, Kneel not, gentle Portia. 

Por, I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. 
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, 280 

I^ it excepted I should know no secrets 
That appertain to you ? Am I yourself 
But, as it were, in sort or limitation. 
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed. 
And talk to you sometimes ? Dwell I but in the suburbs 
Of your good pleasure ? If it be no more, 286 

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. 
1 Bru, You are my true and honorable wife, 
y As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 
That visit my sad heart. 290 

Por. If this were true, then should I know this secret. 
I grant I am a woman ; but withal 
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife : 
I grant I am a woman ; but withal 

A w^oman w^ell-reputed, Cato's daughter. 295 

Think you I am no stronger than my sex, 
Being so fathered and so husbanded ? 
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em : 
I have made strong proof of my constancy, 
Giving myself a voluntary wound 300 

Here in the thigh : can I bear that with patience. 
And not my husband's secrets ? 

Bru, O ye gods, 

Render me worthy of this noble wife ! "[^Knocking within. 
Hark, hark ! one knocks : Portia, go in awhile ; 
And by and by thy bosom shall partake 305 

The secrets of my heart : 

31 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 1. 

All my engagements I will construe to thee, 

All the charactery of my sad brows : [knocks ? 

Leave me with haste. {Exit Portia,'] Lucius, who's that 

Re-enter Lucius with Ligarius. 

Luc, Here is a sick man that would speak with you. 

Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of. 311 

Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius ! how ? 

Lig, Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. 

Bru, O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius, 
'To wear a kerchief 1 Would you w^ere not sick ! 315 

Lig, I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand 
Any exploit worthy the name of honor. 

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, 
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it. 

Lig, By all the gods that Romans bow before, 320 

I here discard my sickness ! Soul of Rome 1 
/Brave son, derived from honorable loins ! 
\Thou, like an exorcist, has conjured up 
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run. 
And I will strive with things impossible ; 325 

Yea, get the better of them. What's to do ? 

Bru, A piece of work that would make sick men whole. 

Lig, But are not some whole that wt must make sick ? 

Bru. That must we also. W^hat it is, my Caius, 
I shall unfold to thee, as we are going 330 

To whom it must be done. 

Lig, Set on your foot. 

And with a heart new-fired I follow^ you, 
To do I know not what : but it sufhceth 
That Brutus leads me on. 

Bru, Follow me, then. \_Exeunt, 

32 



Act II, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

Scene II. Ccesar's House. 
Thunder and lightning. Enter Caesar, in his night-gown. 

Cces. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night : 
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, 
*' Help, ho ! they murder Caesar ! " Who's within ? 

Enter a Servant. 

Serv. My lord ? 

Cces. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, 5 

And bring me their opinions of success. 

Serv, I will, my lord. . \_Exit. 

Enter Calpurnia. 

Cal. What mean you, Caesar ? think you to walk forth ? 
You shall not stir out of your house to-day. 

Cces. Caesar shall forth : the things that threatened me 
Ne'er looked but on my back ; when they shall see n 

The face of Caesar, they are vanished. 

Cal, Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies. 
Yet now they fright me. There is one within, 
Besides the things that we have heard and seen, 15 

Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. 
A lioness hath whelped in the streets ; 
And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead ; 
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds. 
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, 20 

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol ; 
The noise of battle hurtled in the air. 
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan, 
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. 

33 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 2. 

O Caesar ! these things are beyond all use, 25 

And I do fear them. 

Cces. What can be avoided 

Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods ? 





■ii^ia 






^ -^^M^^^^^^^^^m 


^^^^^^B^ 



O Caesar! these things are beyond all use, 
And I do fear them. 

— Act II. Scene 2. 

Yet Caesar shall go forth ; for these predictions 
Are to the world in general as to Caesar. 

CaL When beggars die, there are no comets seen ; 30 
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. 

C(Bs. Cowards die many times before their deaths ; 
The valiant never taste of death but once. 

34 



Act II, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, 

It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; 35 

Seeing that death, a necessary end, 

Will come when it will come#^- 

Re-enter Servant. 

What say the augurers ? 

Serv. They would not have you to stir forth to-day. 
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, 
They could not find a heart within the beast. 40 

Cces. The gods do this in shame of cowardice : 
Caesar should be a beast without a heart, 
If he should stay at home to-day for fear. 
No, Caesar shall not : danger knows full well 
That Caesar is more dangerous than he : 45 

We are two lions littered in one day, 
And I the elder and more terrible : 
And Caesar shall go forth. 

Cal. Alas, my lord, 

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. 
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear 50 

That keeps you in the house, and not your own. 
We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house ; 
And he shall say you are not well to-day : 
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. 

Cces. Mark Antony shall say I am not well 55 

And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. 

Enter Decius. 

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. 

Dec. Caesar, all hail ! good morrow, worthy Caesar : 
I come to fetch you to the senate-house. 

35 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 2. 

C^es, And you are come in very happy time, 60 

To bear. my greeting to the senators 
And tell them that I will not come to-day : 
Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser : 
I will not come to-day : tell them so, Decius. 

CaL Say he is sick. 

Cces, Shall Caesar send a lie ? 65 

Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far, 
To be afeard to tell graybeards the truth ? 
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. 

Dec. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause. 
Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so. 70 

CcBs. The cause is in my will : I will not come ; 
That is enough to satisfy the senate. 
But for your private satisfaction, 
Because I love you, I will let you know : 
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home : 75 

She dreamt to-night she saw my statue. 
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts. 
Did run pure blood ; and many lusty Romans 
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it : 
And these does she apply for warnings, and portents, 80 
And evils imminent ; and on her knee 
Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day. 

Dec, This dream is all amiss interpreted ; 
It was a vision fair and fortunate: 

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, 85 

In which so many smiling Romans bathed. 
Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck 
Reviving blood^and that great men shall press 
For tinctures, Jfains, relics and cognizance. 
This by Calpurnia's dream is signified. 90 

3^ 



Act II, Scene 2. JuHus Caesar. 

CcES, And this way have you well expounded it. 

Dec, I have, when you have hear^ what I can say : 
And know it now : the senate have concluded 
To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. 
If you shall send them word you will not come, 95 

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock 
Apt to be rendered, for some one to say, 
*' Break up the senate till another time. 
When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." 
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper, 100 

'*Lo, Caesar is afraid! " 
Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love 
To your proceeding bids me tell you this, 
And reason to my love is liable. 

Cces. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia ! 
I am ashamed I did yield to them. 
Give me my robe, for I will go. 

Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, 
Trebonius, and Cinna. 

And look where Pubhus is come to fetch me. 

Pub. Good morrow, Caesar. 

Cces, Welcome, Publius. 

What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too ? no 

Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, 
Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy 
As that same ague which hath made you lean. 
What is 't o'clock ? 

Bru, Caesar, 'tis strucken eight. 

Cces, I thank you for your pains and courtesy. 115 



T,! 



ff' 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 3. 

Enter Antony. 

See 1 Antony, that revels long o' nights, 

Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. 

Ant. So to most noble Caesar. 

Cces. Bid them prepare within : 

I am to blame to be thus waited for. 

Now, Cinna : now, Metellus : what, Trebonius 1 120 

I have an hour's talk in store for you ; 
Remember that you call on me to-day : 
Be near me, that I may remember you. 

Treb. Caesar, I will : \^Aside\ and so near will I be, 
That your best friends shall wish I had been further. 125 

Cces. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with 
me ; 
And we, like friends, will straightway go together. 

Bru. \_Aside\ That every like is not the same, O Caesar, 
The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon ! \_Exeunt. 

Scene III. A street near the Capitol. 

Enter Artemidorus, reading a paper. 

Art. '' Caesar, beware of Brutus ; take heed of Cas- 
sius ; come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; trust 
not Trebonius ; mark well Metellus Cimber : Decius 
Brutus loves thee not : thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. 
There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent 
against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about 
you : Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods 
defend thee ! Thy lover Artemidorus." 
Here x stand till Caesar pass along, 

And as a suitor will I give him this. 10 

38 



Act II, Scene 4. 



Julius Caesar. 



My heart laments that virtue cannot live 
Out of the teeth of emulation. 
If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live ; 
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.. 



\_Exit. 



Scene IV. Another part of the same street, before the 
house of Brutus, 

Enter Portia and Lucius. 

Por. I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house ; 
Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone : 
Why dost thou stay ? 




constancy, he strong upon my side. 

— Act II. Scene 4. 

Luc. To know my errand, ma6J 

Por. I would have had thee there, and here again, 

39 



Julius Caesar. Act II, Scene 4. 

Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there. 5 

constancy, be strong upon my side, 

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue 1 

1 have a man's mind, but a woman's might. 
How hard it is for w^omen to keep counsel ! 
Art thou here yet ? 

Luc. Madam, what should I do ? 10 

Run to the Capitol, and nothing else ? 
And so return to you, and nothing else ? 

For. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, 
For he went sickly forth : and take good note 
What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him. 15 

Hark, boy ! what noise is that ? 

Luc. I hear none, madam. 

For. Prithee, listen well ; 

I heard a bustling rumor, like a fray. 
And the wind brings it from the Capitol. 

Luc. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing. 

Efiter the Soothsayer. 

For, Come hither, fellow : 20 

Which way hast thou been ? 

Sooth. At mine own house, good lady. 

For. What is 't o'clock ? 

Sooth. About the ninth hour, lady. 

For. Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol ? 

Sooth. Madam, not yet : I go to take my stand. 
To see him pass on to the Capitol. 25 

For. Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not ? 

Sooth. That I have, lady : if it will please Caesar 
To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, 
I shall beseech him to befriend himself. 

40 



Act III, Scene 1. JuHus Caesar. 

Por, Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards 
him ? 30 

Sooth. None that I know will be, much that I fear may 
chance. 
Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow : 
The throng that follow Caesar at the heels. 
Of senators, of praetors, common suitors, 
Will crowed a feeble man almost to death : 35 

I'll get me to a place more void, and there 
Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. \^Exit. 

Por. I must go in. Ay me, how weak a thing 
The heart of woman is ! O Brutus, 

The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise 1 40 

Sure, the boy heard me : Brutus hath a suit 
That Caesar will not grant. O, I grow faint. 
Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord ; 
Say I am merry : come to me again, 

And bring me word what he doth say to thee. 45 

\_Exeunt severally, 

ACT III. 

Scene I. Rome, Before the Capitol ; the Senate sitting 

above, 

A crowd of people ; among them Artemidorus a7id the 
Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter Caesar, Brutus, Cas- 
sius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, 
Antony, Lepidus, Popilius, Publius, a7id others. 

Cces. \_To the Soothsayer'] The ides of March are come. 
Sooth. Ay, Caesar ; but not gone. 
Art. Hail, Caesar! read this schedule. 

41 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 1. 

Dec. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, 
At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 5 

Art, O Caesar, read mine first ; for mine's a suit 
That touches Caesar nearer : read it, great Caesar. 

CcEs, What touches us ourself shall be last served. 

Art. Delay not, Caesar ; read it instantly. 

Cces. What, is the fellow mad ? 

Pub. Sirrah, give place. lo 

Cas. What, urge you your petitions in the street ? 
Come to the Capitol. 

C^SAR goes up to the Senate-House^ the rest following. 

Pop, I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive. 

Cas. What enterprise, Popilius ? 

Pop, Fare you well. 

\_Advances to Ccesar. 

Bru, What said Popilius Lena ? 15 

Cas, He wished to-day our enterprise might thrive. 
I fear our purpose is discovered. 

Bru, Look, how he makes to Caesar : mark him. 

Cas, Casca, 

Be sudden, for we fear prevention. 

Brutus, what shall be done ? If this be known, 20 

Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back, 
For I will slay myself. 

Bru, Cassius, be constant : 

Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; 
For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change. 

Cas. Trebonius knows his time ; for, look you, Brutus, 
He draws Mark Antony out of the way. 26 

\_Exeunt Antony and Trebonius, 

Dec. Where is Metellus Cimber ? Let him go, 

42 



Act III, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 



And presently prefer his suit to Caesar. 

Brii. He is addressed : press near and second 
him. 

0>/. Casca, you are the first that rears your 
hand. 3° 

Cces. Are we all ready ? What is now amiss 
That Caesar and his senate must redress ? 

Met, Most high, most mighty, and most puissant 
Caesar, 
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat 
An humble heart : — . \_Kneeling, 

Cces. I must prevent thee, Cimber. 35 

These couchings and these lowly courtesies 
Might thaw the blood of ordinary men, 
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree 
Into the law of children. Be not fond, 
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood 40 

That will be thawed from the true quality 
With that which melteth fools ; I mean, sweet w^ords. 
Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning. 
Thy brother by decree is banished : 

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, 45 

I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. 
Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause 
Will he be satisfied. 

Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, 
To sound more sweetly in great Caesar's ear 50 

For the repealing of my banished brother ? 

Bru. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar ; 
Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may 
Have an immediate freedom of repeal. 

Cces. What, Brutus ! 

43 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 1. 

Cas. Pardon, Caesar ; Caesar, pardon ; 55 

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall. 
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. 

Cces. I could be well moved, if I were as you ; 
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me ; 
But I am constant as the northern star, 60 

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality 
There is no fellow in the firmament. 
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks, 
They are all fire and every one doth shine ; 
But there's but one in all doth hold his place: 65 

So in the world ; 'tis furnished well with men. 
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive ; 
Yet in the number I do know but one 
That unassailable holds on his rank, 

Unshaked of motion : and that I am he, . 70 

Let me a little show it, even in this ; 
That I was constant Cimber should be banished, 
And constant do remain to keep him so. 

Cin, O Caesar, — 

C(xs. Hence ! wilt thou lift up Olympus ? 

Dec, Great Caesar, — 

Cces, Doth not Brutus bootless kneel ? 75 

Casca. Speak, hands, for me ! 

\Casca first, then the other conspirators and Marcus 
Brutus stab CcEsar. 

Cces, Et tu. Brute ! Then fall, Caesar ! \_Bies, 

Cin. Liberty ! Freedom ! Tyranny is dead 1 

Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. 
Cas, Some to the common pulpits, and cry out 

** Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement 1 " 

44 



Act III, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

Bru. People and senators, be not affrighted ; 
Fly not ; stand still: ambition's debt is paid. 

Casca, Go to the pulpit, Brutus. 

Dec. And Cassius too. 85 

Bru. Where's PubUus ? 

Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. 

Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar's 
Should chance — 

Bru. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer ; 90 
There is no harm intended to your person. 
Nor to no Roman else : so tell them, Publius. 

Cas. And leave us, Publius : lest that the people. 
Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. 

Bru. Do so : and let no man abide this deed, 95 

But we the doers. 

Re-enter Trebonius. 

Cas. Where is Antony ? 

Tre. Fled to his house amazed : 

Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run 
As it were doomsday. 

Bru. Fates, we will know your pleasures : 

That we shall die, we know ; 'tis but the time 100 

And drawing days out, that men stand upon. 

Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life 
Cuts off so many years of fearing death. 

Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit : 
So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged 105 

,His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop. 
And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood 
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords : 
Then walk w^e forth, even to the market-place, 

45 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 1 

And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, no 

Let's all cry " Peace, freedom, and liberty ! " 

Cas, Stoop then, and wash. How many ages hence 
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over 
In states unborn and accents yet unknown ! 

Bru. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, 115 
That now on Pompey's basis lies along 
No worthier than the dust ! 

Cas. So oft as that shall be. 

So often shall the knot of us be called 
The men that gave their country liberty. 

Dec. What, shall we forth ? ' 

Cas. Ay, every man away : 120 

Brutus shall lead ; and we will grace his heels 
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome. 

Enter a Servant. 

Bru. Soft! who comes here ? A friend of Antony's. 

Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel ; 
Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down ; 125 

And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say : 
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest ; 
Caesar was mighty, bold, royal and loving : 
Say I love Brutus, and I honor him; 

Say I feared Caesar, honored him, and loved him. 130 

If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony 
May safely come to him, and be resolved 
How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death, 
Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead 
So well as Brutus living ; but will follow 135 

The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus 
Thorough the hazards of this untrod state 

46 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 1. 

With all true faith. So says my master Antony. 

Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman ; 
I never thought him worse. 140 

Tell him, so please him come unto this place, 
He shall be satisfied, and, by my honor. 
Depart untouched. 

Serv, I'll fetch him presently. \_Exit. 

Bru. I know that we shall have him well to friend. 

Cas. I wish we may : but yet have I a mind 145 

That fears him much ; and piy misgiving still 
Falls shrewdly to the purpose. 

Bru, But here comes Antony. 

Re-enter Antony. 

Welcome, Mark Antony. 

Ant. O mighty Caesar ! dost thou lie so low ? 
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 150 

Shrunk to this little measure ? Fare thee well. 
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend. 
Who else /must be let blood, who else is rank: 
If I myself, there is no hour so fit 

As Caesar's death's hour, nor no instrument 155 

Of half that' worth as those your swords, made rich 
With the most noble blood of all this world. 
I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard. 
Now whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke. 
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years, 160 

I shall not find myself so apt to die : 
No place will please me so, no mean of death, 
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off. 
The choice and master spirits of this age. 

Bru. O Antony, beg not your death of us. 165 

48 



Act III, Scene 1. 



Julius Caesar. 



Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, 
As, by our hands and this our present act, 
You see we do, yet see you but our hands 
And this the bleeding business they have done : 




Welcome, Mark Antony. 
— Act III. 



Scene i. 



Our hearts you see not ; they are pitiful ; 170 

And pity to the general wrong of Rome — 

As fire drives out fire, solpity pity — 

Hath done this deed on Caesar. For your part, 

To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony : 

Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts 175 

Of brothers' temper, do receive you in 

With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence. 

49 



Julius Caesar. . Act III, Scene 1. 

Cas. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's 
In the disposing of new dignities. 

Bru, Only be patient till we have appeased i8o 

The multitude, beside themselves with fear, 
And then we will deliver you the cause. 
Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him, 
Have thus proceeded. 

Ant, I doubt not of your wisdom. 

Let each man render me his bloody hand : 185 

First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you ; 
Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand ; 
Now, Decius Brutus, yours ; now yours, Metellus ; 
Yours, Cinna ; and, my valiant Casca, yours ; 
Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 190 
Gentlemen ^11, — alas, what shall I say? 
My credit now stands on such slippery ground. 
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, 
Either a coward or a flatterer. 

That I did love thee, Caesar, O, 'tis true : 195 

If then thy spirit look upon us now. 
Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death, 
To see thy Antony making his peace, 
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes, 
.Most noble ! in the presence of thy corse ? 200 

Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds, 
Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood. 
It would become me better than to close 
In terms of friendship with thine enemies. 
Pardon me, JuHus ! Here wast thou bayed, brave hart ; 205 
Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand. 
Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe. 
O world, thou wast the forest to this hart ; 

50 



Act III, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

f^ 

'And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee. \ 

How Hke a deer strucken by many princes, ' 210 

Dost thou here he ! 

Cas, Mark Antony, — 

Ant. Pardon me, Caius Cassius ; 

The enemies of Caesar shall say this ; 
Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. 

Cas, I blame you not for praising Caesar so ; 215 

But what compact mean you to have with us ? 
Will you be pricked in number of our friends, 
Or shall we on, and not depend on you? 

Ant. Therefore I took your hands, but was, indeed, 
Swayed from the point, by looking down on Caesar. 220 
Friends am I with you all and love you all. 
Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons 
Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous. 

Bru, Or else were this a savage spectacle : 
Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 

That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, 
You should be satisfied. 

Ant, That's all I seek : 

And am moreover suitor that I may 
Produce his body to the market-place ; 
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, 230 

Speak in the order of his funeral. 

Bru, You shall, Mark Antony. / 

Cas. Brutus, a word with you. 

\Aside to Brutus^ You know not what you do : do not 

consent 
That Antony speak in his funeral : 

Know you how much the people may be moved 235 

By that which he will utter? 

51 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 1. 

Bru, By your pardon ; 

I will myself into the pulpit first, 
And show the reason of our Caesar's death : 
What Antony shall speak, I will protest 
He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 

And that we are contented Caesar shall 
Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. 
It shall advantage more than do us wrong. 

Cas. I know not what may fall ; I like it not. 

Bru, Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. 245 
You shall not in your funeral speech blame us. 
But speak all good you can devise of Caesar, 
And say you do't by our permission ; 
Else shall you not have any hand at all 
About his funeral : and you shall speak 250 

In the same pulpit whereto I am going. 
After my speech is ended. 

Ant, Be it so ; 

1^0 desiremo more. 

Bru, Prepare the body then, and follow us. 

\Exeunt all but Antony, 

Ant, O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! 
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 
That ever lived in the tide of times. 
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! 
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, — 260 

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips. 
To beg the voice and utterance of niy tongue, — 
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; 
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife 
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ; 265 

52 



Act III, Scene 1. JuHus Caesar. 

Blood and destruction shall be so in use, 

And dreadful objects so familiar, 

That mothers shall but smile when they behold 

Their infants quartered with the hands of war ; 

All pity choked wdth custom of fell deeds : 270 

And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, 

With Ate by his side come hot from hell. 

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice 

Cry " Havoc," and let slip the dogs of w^ar ; 

That this foul deed/ shall smel| above the earth 275 

With carrion men, groaning for burial. 

Enter a Servant. 

You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not ? 

Serv. I do, Mark Antony. 

Ant. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome. 

Serv. He did receive his letters, and is coming ; 280 
And bid me say to you by word of mouth — 
O Caesar ! — \Seeing the body. 

Ant. Thy heart is big ; get thee apart and weep. 
Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes. 
Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 285 

Began to water. Is thy master coming ? 

Se7V. He lies to-night withm seven leagues of Rome. 

Ant. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath 
chanced : 
Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, 
No Rome of safety for Octavius yet ; 290 

Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet, stay awhile : 
Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse 
Into the market-place : there shall I try. 
In my oration, how the people take 



Julius Caesar. Act IIL Scene 2. 

The cruel issue of these bloody men ; 295 

According to the which, thou shalt discourse 

To young Octavius of the state of things. 

Lend me your hand. {^Exeunt with Ccesar's body, 

y-y- >^':2 'Scene II. J^yorum. 
Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens. 

Citizens. We will be satisfied ; let us be satisfied. 

Bru. Then follow me, and give me ^audience, friends. 
Cassius, go you into the other street, 
And part the numbers. 

Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here ; 5 

Those that will follow Cassius, go with him ; 
And public reasons shall be rendered 
Of Caesar's death. 

First Cit I will hear Brutus speak. 

Sec, Cit, I will hear Cassius ; and compare their reasons, 
When severally we hear them rendered. 10 

\Exit Cassius^ with some of the Citizens. Brutus goes 
into the pulpit. 

Third Cit. The noble Brutus is ascended : silence ! 

Bru. Be patient till the last. 
Romans, countrymen, and lovers ! hear me for my cause, 
and be silent that you may hear : beHeve me for mine 
honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may be- 
lieve : censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, 
that you may the better judge. If there be any in this 
assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that 
Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that 
friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my 

54 



Act III, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

answer : — Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved 
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die 
all slaves, ,than that Caesar were dead, to live all free 
men ? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was 
fortunate, I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant, I honor him : 
but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for 
his love ; joy for his fortune ; honor for his valor ; and 
death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would 
be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. 
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman ? If any, 
speak ; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile 
that will not love his country ? If any, speak ; for him 
have I offended. I pause for a reply. 33 

AIL None, Brutus, none. 

Bru, ' Then none have I offended. I have done no 
more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The ques- 
tion of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; his glory not 
extenuated, wherein he >\'as worthy^ nor his offences en- 
forced, for which he suffered death. 

Enter Antony a7id others^ with Cesar's body. 

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: who, 
though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 
benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth; as 
which of you shall not? With this I depart, — that, as 
I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the 
same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country 
to need my death. 46 

All. Live, Brutus i live, live ! 

First Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 

Sec. Cit. Give him a statue with his ancestors. 

Third Cit. Let him be Caesar. 

55 



Julius Caesar. 



Act III, Scene 2. 
Caesar's better parts 50 



Fourth Cit 
Shall be crowned in Brutus. 

First Cit. We'll bring him to his house with shouts 
and clamors. 




Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony. 
— Act III. Scene 2. 

£ru. My countrymen, — 

Sec, Cit. Peace, silence ! Brutus speaks. 

First Cit. Peace, ho ! 

Bru. Good countrymen, let me depart alone. 
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony : 
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech 
Tending to Caesar's glories ; which Mark Antony, 

56 



55 



Act III, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

By our permission, is allowed to make. 

I do entreat you, not a man depart, 60 

Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. [£xtf, 

Firs.t Cit Stay, ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony. 

Third Cit Let him go up into the public chair ; 
We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up. 

Ant For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. 65 

\^Goes into the pulpit. 

Fourth Cit. What does he say of Brutus ? 

Third Cit. He says, for Brutus' sake, 

He finds himself beholding to us -all. 

Fourth Cit 'Tv^ere best he speak no harm of Brutus 
here. 

First Cit. This Caesar v^as a tyrant. 

Third Cit, Nay, that's certain : 

We are blest that Rome is rid of him. 70 

Sec. Cit. Peace ! let us hear what Antony can say. 

Ant. You gentle Romans, — 
p.^ Citizens. Peace, ho 1 let us hear him. 

' Ant. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them ; 75 

The good is oft interred with their bones ; 
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus 
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious : 
If it were so, it was a grievous fault. 

And grievously hath Caesar answered it. 80 

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, — 
For Brutus is an honorable man ; 
So are they all, all honorable men, — 
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 
He was my friend, faithful and just to me : 85 

57 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 2. 

But Brutus says he was ambitious ; 
And Brutus is an honorable man. 
He hath brought many captives home to Rome, 
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill : 
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious ? 90 

. When that the poor have cri-ed, Caesar hath wept : 

\1 Ambition should be made of /sterner stuffs: 
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; ^ 

And Brutus is an honorable man. 

You all did see that on the Lupercal 95 

I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 
Which he did thrice refuse : was this ambition ? 
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; 
And, sure, he is an honorable man. 
• I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 100 

But here I am to speak what I do know. 
You all did love him once, not without cause : 
What cause witKholds you then to mourn for him ? 
\^ O judgment ! thou art fled to brutish beasts, \ 
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me ; 105 

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 
And I must pause till it come back to me. 

First Cit. Methinks there is much reason in his say- 
ings. 

Sec, Cit, If thou consider rightly of the matter, 
Caesar has had /great wrong. 

Third Cit, [ Has he, masters ? no 

I fear there willa worse come in his place. 

Fourth Cit, Marked ye his words ? He would not 
take the crown ; 
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious. 

First Cit, If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 

58 



Act III, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 



V 



Sec, at. Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with 
weeping. 115 

Third Cit. There's not a nobler man in Rome than 
Antony. 

Fourth Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. 

Ant. But yesterday the word of Caesar might 
have stood against the world ; now lies he there, 
[And none so poor to do him reverence. 120 

b masters, if I were disposed to stir 
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong. 
Who, you all know, are honorable men : 
I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose 125 

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, 
Than I will wrong such honorable men. 
But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar ; 
I found it in his closet ; 'tis his will : 

Let but the commons hear this testament — 130 

Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read — 
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds 
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, 
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 

And, dying, mention it within their wills, 135 

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 
Unto their issue. 

Fourth Cit. We'll hear the will : read it, Mark Antony. 

All. TThe will ! the will ! we will hear Caesar's will. 

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
It is not meet you know how^ Caesar loved you. 141 

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ; 
And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
It will inflame you, it will make you mad : 

59 



Julius Caesar. Act ill, Scene 2. 

'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; 145 

For, if you should, O, what would come of it ! 

Fourth Cit. Read the will ; we'll hear it, Antony ; 
You shall read us the will, Caesar's will. 

Ant. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile ? 
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it : 150 

I fear I wrong the honorable men 
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar ; I do fear it. 

Fourth Cit, They were traitors : honorable men ! 

All. The will! the testament ! 

Sec. Cit. They were villains, murderers : the will ! read 
the will. 156 

Ant. You will compel me, then, to read the will ? 
Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, 
And let me show you him that made the will. 
Shall I descend ? and will you give me leave ? 160 

All. Come down. 

Sec. Cit. Descend. \_He comes down from the pulpit. 

Third Cit. You shall have leave. 

Fourth Cit. A ring ; stand round. 

First Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the 
body. 

Sec. Cit. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. 166 

Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. 

Several Cit. Stand back. Room ! Bear back. 

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle : I remember 170 

The first time ever Caesar put it on ; 
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, 
That day he overcame the Nervii : 
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: 
See what a rent the envious Casca made : 175 

60 



Act III, Scene 2. JuHus Caesar. 

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed ; 
And as he plucked his cursed steel away, 
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, 
I As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no ; i8o 

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel : 
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him ! 
This was the most unkindest cut of all ; 
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 
llngratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 185 

iQuite vanquished him : then burst his mighty heart ; 
Afid, in his mantle muffling up his face. 
Even at the base of Pompey's statue. 
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen ! 190 

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down. 
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us. 
O, now you weep, and I perceive you feel 
The dint of pity : these are gracious drops. 
Kind souls, what, weep you w^hen you but behold 195 

Our Caesar's vesture wounded ? Look you here. 
Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors. 

First Cit. O piteous spectacle ! 

Sec, Cit, O noble Caesar ! 

Third Cit. O woful day! 200 

Fourth Cit, O traitors, villains ! 

First Cit, O most bloody sight ! 

Sec. Cit. We will be revenged. 

AIL Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! 
Slriy ! Let not a traitor live ! 205 

Ant, Stay, countrymen. 

First Cit. Peace there ! hear the noble Antony. 

61 



Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 2. 

Sec. Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die 
with him. 

Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up 
To such a sudden flood of mutiny. 211 

They that have done this deed are honorable : 
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not. 
That made them do it : they are wise and honorable. 
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. 215 

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts : 
I am no orator, as Brutus is ; 
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man. 
That love my friend ; and that they know full well 
That gave me public leave to speak of him : 220 

For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth. 
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 
To stir men's blood : I only speak right on ; 
J tell you that which you yourselves do know ; 
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, 
And bid them speak for me : but were I Brutus, 226 

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 
Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue 
In every wound of Caesar that should move 
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. 230 

All. We'll mutiny. 

First Cit. We'll burn the house of Brutus. 

Third Cit. Away then ! come, seek the conspirators. 

Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen ; yet hear me speak. 

AIL Peace, ho ! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony ! 

Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what : 
Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves ? 237 

Alas, you know not : I must tell you then : 
You have forgot the will I told you of. 

62 



Act III, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

AIL Most true : the will ! Let's stay and hear the 
will. 240 

Ant Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. 
To every Roman citizen he gives, 
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. 

Sec. Cit Most noble Caesar ! We'll revenge his death. 

Third Cit. O royal Caesar ! 245 

Ant Hear me with patience. 

All. Peace, ho ! 

Ant Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, 
His private arbors and ne^^^-planted orchards, 
On this side Tiber ; he hath left them you, 250 

And to your heirs for ever ; common pleasures, 
To w^alk abroad and recreate yourselves. 
Here was a Caesar I when comes such another ? 

First Cit, Never, never. Come, away, away ! 
We'll burn his body in the holy place, 255 

And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. 
Take up the body. 

Sec, Cit Go fetch fire. 

Third Cit Pluck down benches. 

Fourth Cit, Pluck down forms, windows, anything. 

[Fxeunt Citizens with the body. 

Ant, 'Now let it work, mischief, thou art afoot, 261 
Take thou what course thou wilt ! 

' Enter a Servant. 

How now, fellow ! 
Serv. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome. 
Ant Where is he ? 

Serv. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house. 265 

Ant, And thither will I straight to visit him : 

^7> 



d 




Julius Caesar. Act III, Scene 3. 

He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 
And in this mood will give us any thing. 

Serv. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius 
Are rid hke madmen through the gates of Rome. 270 

Ant Behke they had some notice of the people. 
How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius. 

^ \Exeunt, 

Scene III. A street. 
Enter Cinna the poet. 

Cin. I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Caesar, 
And things unlucky charge my fantasy : 
I have no will to wander forth of doors, 
Yet something leads me forth. 

Enter Citizens. 

First Cit What is your name ? 5 

Sec. Cit. Whither are you going? 

Third Cit. Where do you dwell ? 

Fourth Cit Are you a married man or a bachelor ? 

Sec. Cit, Answer every man directly. 

First Cit. Ay, and briefly. , 10 

Fourth Cit. Ay, and wisely. 

Third Cit. Ay, and truly, you were best. 

Cin. What is my name ? Whither am I going ? 
Where do I dwell ? am I a married man or a bachelor ? 
Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely 
and truly : wisely I say, I am a bachelor. 16 

Sec, Cit. That's as much as to say, they are fools that 
marry : you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed ; 
directly. 

Cin. Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral. 20 

64 



Act IV, Scene 1. JuHus Caesar. 

First Cit As a friend or an enemy ? 

Cin. As a friend. 

Sec. Cit. That matter is answered directly. 

Fourth Cit. For your dwelling, briefly. 

Cin, Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 25 

Third Cit, Your name, sir, truly. 

Cin. Truly, my name is Cinna. 

First Cit. Tear him to pieces ; he's a conspirator. 

Cin, /I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet. 

Fourth Cit. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for 
his bad verses. 31 

Cin. I am not Cinna the conspirator. 

Fourth Cit, It is no matter, his name's Cinna ; pluck 
but his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 

Third Cit. /Tear him, tear himl Come, brands, ho! 
fire-brands: to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to 
Decius' house, and some to Casca's ; some to Ligarius' : 
away, go ! \Exeu7it, 

ACT IV. 

Scene I. A house in Rome. 
Antony, Octavius, ^/z^Lepidus, seated at a table. 

Ant. These many, then, shall die; their names are 

pricked. 
Oct. Your brother too must die ; consent you, Lepi- 

dus ? 
Lep. I do consent — 

Oct, Prick him down, Antony. * 

Lep. Upon condition Publius shall not live. 
Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. 5 

65 



Julius Caesar. 



Act IV, Scene 1. 



Ant, He shall not live ; look, with a spot I damn him. 
But Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house ; 
Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine 
How to cut off some charge in legacies. 



.^ 


ImP 


■ f^.' 




rt 




J| 


ll 




^2 


^m 




^ 


w 



He shall not Hue ; look, with a spot I damn him. 

— Act IV. Scene i. 

Lep. What, shall I find you here ? lo 

Oct Or here, or at the Capitol. \_Exit Lepidus. 

Ant. This is a slight unmeritable man, 
Meet to be sent on errands : is it fit, 
The three-fold world divided, he should stand 
One of the three to share it ? 

, Oct, So you thought him, 15 

And took his voice who should be pricked to die. 
In our black sentence and proscription. 

Ant. Octavius, I have seen more days than you: 
And though we lay these honors on this man. 
To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 20 

66 



Act IV, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, 

To groan and sweat under the business, 

Either led or driven, as we point the w^ay ; 

And having brought our treasure where we will, 

Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25 

Like to the eiftpty ass, to shake his ears. 

And graze in commons. 

Oc/. You may do your will ; 

But he's a tried and valiant soldier. 

Ant. So is my horse, Octavius ; and for that 
I do appoint him store of provender: 30 

It is a creature that I teach to fight, 
To wind, to stop, to run directly on. 
His corporal motion governed by my spirit. 
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so ; 
He must be taught, and trained, and bid go forth ; 35 

A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds 
On abjects, orts, and imitations, 
Which, out of use and staled by other men, 
Begin his fashion : do not talk of him, 
But as a property. And now, Octavius, 40 

Listen great things : Brutus and Cassius 
Are levying powders : w^e must straight make head : 
Therefore let pur alliance be combined. 
Our best friends made, our means stretched ; 
And let us presently go sit in council, 45 

How covert matters may be best disclosed, 
And open perils surest answ^er^d. 

Oct. Let us do so : for we are at the stake, 
And bayed about with many enemies ; 
And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, 50 

MiUions of mischiefs. \Exeunt 

67 



f 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 2. 

Scene II. Camp near Sardis, Before Brutus'^ tent. 

Drum, Enter Brutus, Lucilius, Lucius, and Soldiers : 
TiTiNius and Pindarus meeting them, 

Bru, Stand, ho ! 

Lucil. Give the word, ho ! and stand. 

Bru. What now, Lucilius ! is Cassius near ? 

LuciL He is at hand ; and Pindarus is come 
To do you salutation from his master. 5 

Bru. He greets me well. Your master, Pindarus, 
In his own change, or by ill officers, 
Hath given me some worthy cause to wish 
Things done, undone ; but if he be at hand, 
I shall be satisfied. 

Pin, I do not doubt lo 

But that my noble master will appear 
Such as he is, full of regard and honor. 

Bru, He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius, 
How he received you : let me be resolved. 

Lucil. With courtesy and- with respect enough ; 15 

But not with such familiar instances, 
Nor with such free and friendly conference. 
As he hath used of old. 

Bru, Thou hast described 

A hot friend cooling : ever note, Lucilius, 
When love begins to sicken and decay, 20 

It useth an enforced cefemony. 
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith ; 
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand. 
Make gallant show and promise of their mettle ; 
But when they should endure the bloody spur, 25 

68 



Act IV, Scene 2. Julius Caesar. 

They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades. 
Sink in the trial. Comes his army on ? 

Lucil. They mean this night in Sardis to be quartered ; 
The greater part, the horse in general. 
Are come with Cassius. \^Low march within, 

Bru, Hark ! he is arrived. 30 

March gently on to meet him. 

Enter Cassius a7id his powers, 

Cas. Stand, ho ! 

Bru. Stand, ho ! Speak the word along. 

First Sol. Stand ! 

Sec, Sol. Stand ! 35 

Third Sol. Stand ! 

Cas. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong. 

Bru. Judge me, you gods I wrong I mine enemies ? 
And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother ? 

Cas, Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs ; 40 
And when you do them — 

Bru. Cassius, be content ; 

Speak your griefs softly : I do know you well. 
Before the eyes of both our armies here, 
Which should perceive nothing but love from us, 
Let us not wrangle : bid them move away ; 45 

Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs. 
And I will give you audience. 

Cas. Pindarus, 

Bid our commanders lead the charges off 
A little from this ground. 

Bru. Lucilius, do you the like ; and let no man 50 

Come to our tent till we have done our conference. 
Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door. \Exeunt. 

69 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 3. 

Scene III. Brutus' tent 

Enter Brutus and Cassius. 

Cas, That you have wronged me doth appear in this : 
You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella 
For taking bribes here of the Sardians ; 
Wherein my letters, praying on his side, 
Because I knew the man, were slighted off. 5 

Bru, You wronged yourself to write in such a case. 

Cas, In such a time as this it is not meet 
That every nice offence should bear his comment. 

Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself 
Are much condemned to have an itching palm, 10 

To sell and mart your offices for gold 
To undeservers. 

Cas, I an itching palm ! 

You know that you are Brutus that speaks this. 
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. 

Bru. The name of Cassius honors this corruption, 15 
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. 

Cas. Chastisement ! 

B7U. Remember March, the ides of March remember: 
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake ? 
What villain touched his body, that did stab, 20 

And not for justice? What, shall one of us, 
That struck the foremost man of all this world 
But for supporting robbers, shall we now 
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes. 
And sell the mighty space of our large honors 25 

For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
Than such a Roman. 

70 



Act IV, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 

Cas. Brutus, bait not me ; 

I'll not endure it: you forget yourself, 
To hedge me in ; I am a soldier, I, 30 

Older in practice, abler than yourself 
To make conditions. 

Bru. Go to ; you are not, Cassius. 

Cas. I am. 

Bru. I say you are not. 

Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself ; 35 

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther. 

Bru. Away, slight man ! 

Cas. Is't possible ? 

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. 

Must I give way and room to your rash choler ? 
Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? 40 

Cas. O ye gods, ye gods ! must I endure all this ? 

Bru. All this ! ay, more : fret till your proud heart 
break ; 
Go show your slaves how choleric you are. 
And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge. 
Must I observe you ? must I stand and crouch 45 

Under your testy humor ? By the gods. 
You shall digest the venom of your spleen. 
Though it do split you; for, from this day forth, 
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter. 
When you are waspish. 

Cas. Is it come to this ? 50 

Bru. You say you are a better soldier : 
Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true, 
And it shall please me well : for mine own part, 
I shall be glad to learn of noble men. 

Cas. You wrong me every way ; you wrong me, Brutus ; 

71 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 3. 

I said, an elder soldier, not a better : 56 

Did I say, better ? 

Bru. If you did, I care not. 

Cas, When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have 
moved me. 

Bru. Peace, peace ! you durst not so have tempted 
him. 

Cas. I durst not ! 60 

Bru. No. 

Cas, What, durst not tempt him ! 

Bru, For your life you durst not. 

Cas, Do not presume too much upon my love ; 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

Bru, You have done that you should be sorry 
for. 65 

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; 
For I am armed so strong in honesty 
That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
Which I respect not. I did send to you 
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me : 70 

For I can raise no money by vile means : 
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart. 
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash 
By any indirection : I did send 75 

To you for gold to pay my legions, 
Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius \ 
Should I have answered Caius Cassius so ? 
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous. 
To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 80 

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts ; 
Dash him to pieces ! 

72 



Act IV, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 

Cas. I denied you not. 

Bru, You did. 

Cas.' I did not : he was but a fool 

That brought my answer back. Brutus hath rived my 

heart : 
A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, 85 

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. 

Bru, I do not, till you practise them on me. 

Cas. You love me not. 

Bru. I do not like your faults. 

Cas, A friendly eye could never see such faults. 

Bru, A flatterer's would not, though they do appear 90 
As huge as high Olympus. 

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come ; 
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, 
For Cassius is aweary of the world ; 

Hated by one he loves ; braved by his brother ; 95 

Checked like a bondman ; all his faults observed. 
Set in a note-book, learned, and conned by rote. 
To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep 
My spirit from mine eyes ! There is my dagger. 
And here my naked breast ; within, a heart 100 

Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold : 
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth ; 
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart : 
Strike, as thou didst at Caesar ; for I know. 
When thou didst hate him w^orst, thou lovedst him 
better 105 

Than ever thou lovedst Cassius. 

Bru. Sheathe your dagger : 

Be angry when you wdll, it shall have scope ; 
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor. 

73 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 3. 

O Cassius, you are yok^d with a lamb 

That carries anger as the flint bears fire, no 

Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark 

And straight is cold again. 

Cas, Hath Cassius lived 

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, 
When grief and blood ill-tempered vexeth him ? 

Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. 115 

Cas. Do you confess so much ? Give me your hand. 

Bru. And my heart too. 

Cas. O Brutus ! 

Bru. What's the matter ? 

Cas. Have not you love enough to bear with me, 
When that rash humor which my mother gave me 
Makes me forgetful ? 

Bru. Yes, Cassius, and from henceforth, 120 

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, 
He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so. 

Poet. [ Within^ Let me go in to see the generals ; 
There is some grudge between 'em : 'tis not meet 
They be alone. 

Lucil. [ Within^ You shall not come to them. 125 

Poet. [ Within..'\ Nothing but death shall stay me. 

Enter Vo^X,^ followed by Lucilius, Titinius, ^;^^ Lucius. 

Cas. How now ! what's the matter ? 

Poet. For shame, you generals ! what do you mean ? 
Love, and be friends, as two such men should be ; 
For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye. 130 

Cas. Ha, ha ! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme ! 

Bru. Get you hence, sirrah ; saucy fellow, hence 1 

Cas. Bear with him, Brutus ; 'tis his fashion. 

74 



Act IV, Scene 3. ^ Julius Caesar. 

Bru, I'll know his humor, when he knows his time : 
What should the wars do with these jigging fools ? 135 

Companion, hence ! 

Cas. Away, away, be gone ! \_Exit Poet. 

Bru. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders 
Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 

Cas, And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you 
Immediately to us. \_Exeunt Lucilius and Titinius, 

Bru. Lucius, a bowl of wine ! Exit Lucius. 

Cas. I did not think you could have been so angry. 141 

Bru. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs. 

Cas. Of your philosophy you make no use. 
If you give place to accidental evils. 

Bru. No man bears sorrow better : Portia is dead. 145 

Cas. Ha! Portia! 

Bru. She is dead. 

Cas, How scaped I killing when I crossed you so ? 
O insupportable and touching loss ! 
Upon what sickness ? 

Bru. Impatient of my absence, 150 

And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony 
Have made themselves so strong : for with her death 
That tidings came : with this she fell distract. 
And, her attendants absent, swallowed fire. 

Cas. And died so ? 

Bru. Even so. 

Cas. O ye immortal gods ! 155 

Re-enter Lucius, with wine and taper. r""^ 

Bru. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. 
In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. [^Drinks. 

Cas. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge. 

75 



Julius Caesar. ^ Act IV, Scene 3. 

Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup ; 159 

I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. \_Drinks, 

Bru. Come in, Titinius ! \_Exit Lucius. 

Re-enter Titinius, with Messala. 

Welcome, good Messala. 
Now sit we close about this taper here. 
And call in question our necessities. 

Cas, Portia, art thou gone ? 

Bru, No more, I pray you. 

Messala, I have here received letters, 165 

That young Octavius and Mark Antony 
Come down upon us with a mighty power, 
Bending their expedition toward Philippi. 

Mes, Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor. 

Bru. With what addition ? 170 

Mes. That by proscription and bills of outlawry, 
Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, 
Have put to death an hundred senators. 

Bru. Therein our letters do not well agree ; 
Mine speak of seventy senators that died 175 

By their proscriptions, Cicero being one. 

Cas. Cicero one ! 

Mes. Cicero is dead. 

And by that order of proscription. 
Had you your letters from your wife, my lord ? 

Biu. No, Messala. 180 

Mes. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her ? 

Bru. Nothing, Messala. 

Mes. That, methinks, is strange. 

Bru. Why ask you ? hear you aught of her in yours ? 

Mes. No, my lord. 

76 



Act IV, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 

Bru. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true. 185 

Mes, Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : 
For certain she is dead, and by strange manner. 

Bru, Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala : 
With meditating that she must die once 
I have the patience to endure it now. 190 

Mes, Even so great men great losses should endure. 

Cas, I have as much of this in art as you, 
But yet my nature could not bear it so. 

Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think 
Of marching to Philippi presently ? 195 

Cas. I do not think it good. 

Bru. Your reason ? 

Cas. This it is : 

'Tis better that the enemy seek us : 
So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, 
Doing himself offence ; whilst we, lying still. 
Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness. 200 

Bru. Good reasons must of force give place to 
better. 
The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground 
Do stand but in a forced affection. 
For they have grudged us contribution : 
The enemy, marching along by them, 205 

By them shall make a fuller number up. 
Come on refreshed, new-added, and encouraged ; 
From which advantage shall we cut him off, 
If at Philippi we do face him there. 
These people at our back. 

Cas. Hear me, good brother. 210 

Bru. Under your pardon. You must note beside, 
That we have tried the utmost of our friends, 

77 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 3. 

I Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe : 
The enemy increaseth every day ; 

We, at the height, are ready to decline. 215 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
Omittedj all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

On such a full sea are we now afloat ; 220 

And we must take the current when it serves, 
Or lose our ventures. 

Cas. Then, with your will, go on ; 

We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi. 

Bru, The deep of night is crept upon our talk. 
And nature must obey necessity ; 225 

Which we wall niggard with a little rest. 
There is no more to say ? 

Cas, No more. Good night : 

Early to-morrow will we rise and hence. 

Bric, Lucius! \jEnter Lucius^ My gown. \_Exit Lucius^ 
Farewell, good Messala : 
Good night, Titinius : noble, noble Cassius, 230 

Good night, and good repose. 

Cas, O my dear brother ! 

This was an ill beginning of the night : 
Never come such division 'tween our souls ! 
Let it not, Brutus. 

Bru. Everything is well. 

Cas. Good night, my lord. 

Bru. Good night, good brother. 235 

Tit. Mes. Good night, lord Brutus. 

Bru. Farewell, every one. 

[^Exeunt all but Brutus. 

78 



Act IV, Scene 3. JuHus Caesar. 

Re-enter Iajcivs, with the gown. 

Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument ? 

Luc, Here in the tent. 

Bru, What, thou speak'st drowsily ? 

Poor knave, I blame thee not ; thou art overwatched. 
Call Claudius and some other of my men ; 240 

I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent. 

Luc. Varro and Claudius ! 

Enter Varro and Claudius. 

Var, Calls my lord ? 

Bru. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep ; 
It may be I shall raise you by and by 245 

On business to my brother Cassius. 

Var. So please you, we will stand and watch your 
pleasure. 

Bru, I will not have it so : lie down, good sirs ; 
It may be I shall otherwise bethink me. . 
Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so ; 250 

I put it in the pocket of my gow^n. 

[ Varro and Claudius lie down, 

Luc, I was sure your lordship did not give it me. 

Bru. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. 
Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile. 
And touch thy instrument a strain or two ? 255 

L.UC. Ay, my lord, an't please you. 

Bru. It does, my boy : 

I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. 

Luc. It is my duty, sir. 

Bric. I should not urge thy duty past thy might ; 
I know young bloods look for a time of rest. 260 

79 



Julius Caesar. Act IV, Scene 3. 

Luc. I have slept, my lord, already. 

Bru. It was well done ; and thou shalt sleep again ; 
I will not hold thee long ; if I do live, 
I will be good to thee. \^Music^ and a song. 

(This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber, 265 

^Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, 
That plays thee music ? Gentle knave, good night ; 
I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee : 
If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument ; 
I'll take it from thee ; and, good boy, good night. 270 

Let me see, let me see ; is not the leaf turned down 
Where I left reading? Here it is, I think. 

Enter the Ghost of Caesar. 

How ill this taper burns ! Ha ! who comes here ? 

I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 

That shapes this monstrous apparition. 275 

It comes upon me. Art thou any thing ? 

Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil. 

That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare ? 

Speak to me what thou art. 

Ghost, Thy evil spirit, Brutus. 

Bru. Why comest thou ? 280 

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi. 

Bru. Well ; then I shall see thee again ? 

Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. 

Bru. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then. 

\_Exit Ghost. 
Now I have taken heart thou vanishest : 285 

111 spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. 
Boy, Lucius 1 Varro I Claudius ! Sirs, awake ! 
Claudius ! 

80 



Act IV, Scene 3. J uHus Caesar. 

Luc, The strings, my lord, are false. 
Bru. \ He thinks he still is at his instrument. 290 

Lucius, awake ! 
Luc. My lord ? 
Bru, Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out ? 




Thou shah see me at PhilippL 

— Act IV. Scene 3. 

% 
Luc, My lord, I do not know that I did cry. 294 

Bru, Yes, that thou didst : didst thou see any thing ? 
Luc, Nothing, my lord. . 

Bru, Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah, Claudius I 
[ To Varro] Fellow thou, awake ! 

81 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 1. 

Var. My lord ? 

Clau. My lord ? 300 

Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep ? 

Va7\ Clati. Did we, my lord ? 

Bru. Ay : saw you any thing I 

Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing. 

Clau. Nor I, my lord. 

Bru. Go and commend me to my brother Cassius ; 
Bid him set on his powers betimes before, 305 

And we will follow. 

Var. Clau. It shall be done, my lord. \Exeunt, 

ACT V. 

Scene I. The plains of Philippi. 
Enter Octavius, Antony, and their Army. 

Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered : 
You said the enemy would not come down, 
But keep the hills and upper regions ; 
It proves not so : their battles are at hand ; 
They mean to warn us at Philippi here, 5 

Answering before we do demand of them. 

Ant. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know 
Wherefore they do it : they could be content 
To visit other places ; and come down 
With fearful bravery, thinking by this face .lo 

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage ; 
But 'tis not so. 

• Enter a Messenger. 

Mess. Prepare you, generals : 

The enemy comes on in gallant show ; 

82 



Act V, Scene 1. 



Julius Caesar. 



Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, 
And something to be done immediately. 

Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, 
Upon the left hand of the even field. 

Oct Upon the right hand I ; keep thou the left. 




Now, Antony y our hopes are answered, 

— Act V. 



Scene i. 



Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent : 
Oct. I do not cross you ; but I will do so. 



Bru. 
Cas. 
Oct, 
Ant. 



19 



\March. 



Enter Brutus, Cassius, and their Army ; 
ciLius, TiTiNius, Messala, and others. 



Lu- 



They stand, and would have parley. 
Stand fast, Titinius : we must out and talk. 
Mark Antony, shall w^e give sign of battle ? 
No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge. 
Make forth ; the generals would have some words. 
Oct. Stir not until the signal. 
Bru. Words before blows : is it so, countrymen ? 

83 



25 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 1. 

Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. 

Bru, Good words are better than bad strokes, Octa- 
vius. 

Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good 
words : 
Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, 31 

Crying " Long live ! hail, Caesar ! " 

Cas. Antony, 

The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; 
But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees. 
And leave them honeyless. 

Ant. Not stingless too. 35 

Bru. O, yes, and soundless too ; 
For you have stolen their buzzing, Antony, % 

And very wisely threat before you sting. 

Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers 
Hacked one another in the sides of Caesar : 40 

You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds. 
And bowed like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet ; 
Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind 
Struck Caesar on the neck. O you flatterers ! 

Cas. Flatterers ! Now, Brutus, thank yourself : 45 

This tongue had not offended so to-day. 
If Cassius might have ruled. 

Oct. Come, come, the cause : if arguing make us sweat, 
The proof of it will turn to redder drops. 
Look ; 50 

I draw a sword against conspirators ; 
When think you that the sword goes up again ? 
Never, till Caesar's three and thirty wounds 
Be well avenged, or till another Caesar 
Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. 55 

84 



Act V, Scene 1. Julius Caesar. 

Bru, Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, 
Unless thou bring'st them with thee. 

Oct. So I hope ; 

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. 

Brii. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain. 
Young man, thou couldst not die more honorable. 60 

Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honor, 
Joined with a masker and a reveller ! 

Ant, Old Cassius still ! 

Oct. Come, Antony, away. 

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth : 
If you dare fight to-day, come to the field ; 65 

If not, when you have stomachs. 

[Exeunt Octaviiis^ Antony^ and their army. 

Cas. Why, now," blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark 1 
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. 

Bru. Ho, Lucilius ! hark, a word wath you. 

Liicil. \_Standmg forth.'] My lord ! 

\_Brutus and Lucilius converse apart. 

Cas. Messala. 

Mes. \^ Standing forth 7\ What says my general ? 

Cas. Messala, 

This is my birthday ; as this very day 71 

Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala : 
Be thou my witness that against my will, 
As Pompey was, am I compelled to set 
Upon one battle all our liberties. 75 

You know that I held Epicurus strong 
And his opinion : now I change my mind, 
And partly credit things that do presage. 
Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign 
Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perched, 80 

85 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 1. 

Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands ; 

Who to PhiUppi here consorted us : 

This morning are they fled away and gone ; 

And in their steads do ravens, crows and kites 

Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us, 85 

As we were sickly prey : their shadows seem 

A canopy most fatal, under which 

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. 

Mes. Believe not so. 

Cas, I but believe it partly ; 

For I am fresh of spirit and resolved 90 

To meet all perils very constantly. 

Bru, Even so, LuciHus. 

Cas. Now, most noble Brutus, 

The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, 
Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age ! 
But since the affairs of men rest still incertain, 95 

Let's reason with the worst that may befall. 
If we do lose this battle, then is this 
The very last time we shall speak together : 
What are you then determined to do? 

Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy 100 

By which I did blame Cato for the death 
Which he did give himself : I know not how, 
But I do find it cowardly and vile. 
For fear of what might fall, so to prevent 
The time of life : arming myself with patience 105 

To stay the providence of some high powers 
That govern us below. 

Cas. Then, if we lose this battle, 

You are contented to be led in triumph 
Thorough the streets of Rome ? 

86 



Act V, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 

Bru. No, Cassius, no : think not, thou noble Roman^ 
That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome ; m 

He bears too great a mind. But this same day 
Must end that work the ides of March begun ; 
And whether we shall meet again I know not. 
Therefore our everlasting farewell take : 115 

For ever, and for ever, farewell Cassius ! 
If we do meet again, why, we shall smile ; 
If not, why then this parting was well made. 

Cas. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus ! 
If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed ; 120 

If not, 'tis true 'this parting was well made. 

Bru, Why, then, lead on. O, that a man might know 
The end of this day's business ere it come 1 
But it sufficeth that the day will end. 
And then the end is known. Come, ho ! away ! [^Exeunt. 

Scene II. The same. The field of battle. 

Alarum, Enter Brutus and Messala. 

Bru. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills 
Unto the legions on the other side. \_Loud alarum. 

Let them set on at once ; for I perceive 
But cold demeanor in Octavius' wing. 

And sudden push gives them the overthrow. 5 

Ride, ride, Messala: let them all come down. \Exeunt. 

Scene III. Another part of the Held. 

Alarums, Enter Cassius and Titinius. 

Cas. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly ! 
Myself have to my own turned enemy : 

87 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 3. 

This ensign here of mine was turning back ; 
I slew the coward, and did take it from him. 

Titin, O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early ; 5 
Who, having some advantage on Octavius, 
Took it too eagerly : his soldiers fell to spoil, 
Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed. 

Enter Pindarus. 

Pin, Fly further off, my lord, fly further off ; 
Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord : 10 

Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. 

Cas. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius ; 
Are those my tents where I perceive the fire ? 

Titin, They are, my lord. 

Cas. Titinius, if thou lovest me. 

Mount thou my horse and hide thy spurs in him, 15 

Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops 
And here again ; that I may rest assured 
Whether yond troops are friend or enemy. 

TiHn. I will be here again, even with a thought. \_Exit 

Cas. Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill ; 20 

My sight was ever thick ; regard Titinius, 
And tell me what thou not'st about the field. 

\_Pindarus ascends the hill. 
This day I breathed first : time is come round. 
And where I did begin, there shall I end ; 
My life is run his compass. Sirrah, what news ? 25 

Pin. \_Ahove.'\ O my lord ! 

Cas. What news ? 

Pin. \_Above.~\ Titinius is enclosed round about 
With horsemen, that make to him on the spur; 
Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him. 30 

88 



Act V, Scene 3. 



Julius Caesar. 



Now, Titinius ! Now some light. O, he lights too. 
He's ta'en. [SAou/.^ And, hark ! they shout for joy. 
Cas, Come down, behold no more. 




Titinius is enclosed round about 

With horsemen, that make to him on the spur, 

— Act V. Scene 3. 

O, coward that I am, to live so long, 

To see my best friend ta'en before my face ! 35 

\_Pindarus descends. 
Come hither, sirrah : 

In Parthia did I take thee prisoner ; 

And then I swore thee, saving of thy life, 

That whatsoever I did bid thee do. 

Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath ; 

Now be a freeman : and with this good sword, 41 

89 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 3. 

That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom. 
Stand not to answer : here, take thou the hilts ; 
And, when my face is covered, as 'tis now. 
Guide thou the sword. \_Findarus stabs him,'] Caesar, 
thou art revenged, 45 

Even with the sword that killed thee. \_.Dies, 

Fin, So, I am free ; yet would not so have been, 
Durst I have done my will. O Cassius ! 
Far from this country Pindarus shall run, 
Where never Roman shall take note of him. \_ExiL 

Re-enter Titinius with Messala. 

Mes, It is but change, Titinius ; for Octavius 51 

Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power, 
As Cassius' legions are by Antony. 

Titin. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. 

Mes, Where did you leave him ? 

Titin. All disconsolate, 55 

With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill. 

Mes, Is not that he that lies upon the ground ? 

Titin, He lies not like the living. O my heart ! 

Mes. Is not that he ? 

Titin, No, this was he, Messala, 

But Cassius is no more. O setting sun, 60 

As in thy red rays thou dost sink to-night. 
So in his red blood Cassius' day is set ; 
The sun of Rome is set ! Our day is gone ; 
Clouds, dews, and dangers come ; our deeds are done ! 
Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. 65 

Mes, Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. 
O hateful error, melancholy's child, 
Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men 

90 



Act V, Scene 3. Julius Caesar. 

The things that are not ? O error, soon conceived, 
Thou never comest unto a happy birth, 70 

But kill'st the mother that engendered thee. 

Tithi. What, Pindarus ! where art thoU; Pindarus ? 

Mes. Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet 
The noble Brutus, thrusting this report 
Into his ears : I may say, thrusting it ; 75 

For piercing steel and darts envenomed 
Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus 
As tidings of this sight. 

Titin. Hie you, Messala, 

And I will seek for Pindarus the while. \_Exit Messala. 
Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius ? 80 

Did I not meet thy friends ? and did not they 
Put on my brows this wreath of victory. 
And bid me give it thee ? Didst thou not hear their 

shouts ? 
Alas, thou hast misc6nstrued every thing ! 
But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow ; " 85 

Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I 
Will do his bidding. Brutus, come apace. 
And see how I regarded Caius Cassius. 
By your leave, gods : this is a Roman's part : 
Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart. 

[ Kills himself. 

Alarum. Re-enier Messala, with Brutus, young Cato, 
Strato, Volumnius, and Lucilius. 

Bru, Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie ? 91 

Mes. Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it. 

Bru. Titinius' face is upward. 

Cato. He is slain. 

91 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 4. 

Bru. O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! 
Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords 95 

In our own proper entrails. \^Low alarums. 

Cato. Brave Titinius ! 

Look, whether he have not crowned dead Cassius ! 

Bru, Are yet two Romans living such as these ? 
The last of all the Romans, fare thee w^ell ! 
It is impossible that ever Rome 100 

Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe more tears 
To this dead man than you shall see me pay. 
I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time. 
Come, therefore, and to Thasos send his body : 
His funerals shall not be in our camp, 105 

Lest it discomfort us. Lucilius, come ; 
And come, young Cato ; let us to the field. 
Labeo and Flavins, set our battles on : 
'Tis three o'clock ; and, Romans, yet ere night 
We shall try fortune in a second fight. \_Exeunt no 



Scene IV. Another part of the field. 

Alarum. Enter ^ fightings Soldiers of both armies ; then 
Brutus, young Cato, Lucilius, and others. 

Bru, Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads ! 

Cato. What bastard doth not ? Who will go with me ? 
I will proclaim my name about the field ; 
I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho ! 

A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend ; 5 

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho ! 

Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I ; 
Brutus, my country's friend ; know me for Brutus ! \^Exit. 

92 



Act V, Scene 4. JuHus Caesar. 

LuciL O young and noble Cato, art thou down ? 
Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius ; lo 

And mayst be honored, being Cato's son. 

First Sold. Yield, or thou diest. 

LuciL Only I yield to die ; 

There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight ; 

[ Offering money. 
Kill Brutus, and be honored in his death. 

First Sold. We must not. A noble prisoner ! 15 

Sec. Sold. Room, ho ! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 

First Sold. I'll tell the news. Here comes the general. 

Enter Antony. 

Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. 

Ant, Where is he ? 

LuciL Safe, Antony ; Brutus is safe enough : 20 

I dare assure thee that no enemy 
Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : 
The gods defend him from so great a shame ! 
\Vhen you do find him, or alive or dead, 
He will be found like Brutus, like himself. 25 

Ant, This is not Brutus, friend ; but, I assure you, 
A prize no less in worth : keep this man safe ; 
Give him all kindness ; I had rather have 
Such men my friends than enemies. Go on, 
And see whether Brutus be alive or dead ; 30 

And bring us word unto Octavius' tent 
How every thing is chanced. \Exeunt 



93 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 5. 

Scene V. A7iother part of the field. 
Enter Brutus, Dardanius, Clitus, Strato, and 

VOLUMNIUS. 

Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. 

Cli, Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord. 
He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain. 

Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus : slaying is the word ; 
It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [ Whispering. 5 

Cli. What, I, my lord ? No, not for all the world. 

Bru, Peace, then ! no words. 

Cli. I'll rather kill myself. 

Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius. [ Whispering, 

Dar. Shall I do such a deed ? 

Cli. O Dardanius ! 

Dar. O Clitus 1 10 

Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee ? 

Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates. 

Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief. 
That it runs over even at his eyes. 

Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius ; list a word. 15 

Vol. What says my lord ? 

Bru. Why, this, Volumnius : 

The ghost of Caesar hath appeared to me 
Two several times by night ; at Sardis once, 
And this last night here in Philippi fields ; 
I know my hour is come. 

Vol. Not so, my lord. 20 

Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. 
Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes ; 
Our enemies have beat us to the pit ; \_Low alarums. 

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, 

94 



Act V, Scene 5. Julius Caesar. 

Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, 25 

Thou know'st that we two went to school together : 
Even for that our love of old, I prithee, 
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. 

Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord. 

\Alarum still, 

Cli. Fly, fly, my lord ; there is no tarrying here. 30 

Bru, Farewell to you ; and you ; and you, Volumnius. 
Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep ; 
Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen, 
My heart doth joy that yet in all my life 
I found no man but he was true to me. 35 

I shall have glory by this losing day. 
More than Octavius and Mark Antony 
By this vile conquest shall attain unto. 
So, fare you w^ell at once ; for Brutus' tongue 
Hath almost ended his life's history : 40 

Night hangs upon mine eyes ; m^y bones would rest, 
That have but labored to attain this hour. 

\_Alarum. Cry within^ '' Fly, fly, fly 1 " 

Cli. Fly, my lord, fly. 

Bru. Hence ! I will follow. 

\_Exeunl Clitus^ Dardanius^ and Volumnius. 
I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord : 
Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; 45 

Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it : 
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face, 
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato ? 

Stra. Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord. 

Bru. Farewell, good Strato. ^Buns on his sword. 

Caesar, now be still : 50 
I killed not thee with half so good a will. \^Dies. 

95 



Julius Caesar. Act V, Scene 5. 

Alarum, Retreat, Enter Octavius, Antony, Messala, 
LuciLius, a7id the army, - ' 

Oct What man is that ? 

Mes, My master's man. Strato, where is thy master? 

Stra, Free from the bondage you are in, Messala : 
The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; 55 

For Brutus only overcame himself, 




This was the noblest Roman of them all 

— Act V. Scene 5, 

And no man else hath honor by his death. 

LuciL So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus, 
That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true. / 

96 



Act V, Scene 5. Julius Caesar. 

Oct, All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. 60 
Fellow, wilt thou. bestow thy time with me ? 

Stra. Ay, if Messala.will prefer me to you. 

Oct. Do so, good Messala. 

Mes. How died my master, Strato ? 

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. 65 

Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee. 
That did the latest service to my master. 

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all. 
All the conspirators, save only he. 

Did that they did in envy of great Caesar ; 70 

He only, in a general honest thought 
And common good to all, made one of them. 
His life was gentle, and the elements 
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, '* This was a man ! " 75 

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him. 
With all respect and- rites of burial. 
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie, 
Most hke a soldier, ordered honorably. 
So call the field to rest ; and let's away, 80 

To part the glories of this happy day. \_Exeunt. 



97 



A LIST OF THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA, WITH THE 
SCENES IN WHICH THEY APPEAR 

Julius C^sar I, 2; II, 2; III, i. 

OCTAVIUS C^SAR, a triutnvir 

after the death ^/Julius Caesar . IV, i ; V, I, 5. 
Marcus Antonius, a triumvir 

after the death of ]\x\m?> C2Q%2iX . I, 2; II, 2; III, I, 2; IV, i; V, 

h 4, 5- 
M. ^MiLius Lepidus, a trium- 
vir after the death of Caesar. Ill, i; IV, i. 

Cicero, a senator I, 2, 3. 

PuBLius, a senator II, 2; III, I. 

PopiLius Lena, a senator . . Ill, i. 

Marcus Brutus, a conspirator . I, 2; II, i, 2; III, i, 2; IV, 2, 3; 

V, I, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
Cassius, a conspirator . . . . I, 2, 3; II, I; III, I, 2; IV, 2, 3; 

V, I, 3. 

Casca, a conspirator . . . . I, 2, 3; II, i, 2; III, i. 

Trebonius, « <r^«jr/z>«^r . . . II, I, 2; III, I. 

LiGARlus, a conspirator . . . II, I, 2. 

Decius Brutus, a conspirator . I, 2; II, I, 2; III, I. 

Metellus Qi^i-^^-^^ a conspirator II, i, 2; III, I. 

CiNNA, a conspirator . . . . I, 3; II, I, 2; III, I. 

Flavius, a tribune I, i. 

M.^.^^5\A^3^, a tribune . . . .1,1. 
Artemidorus, a sophist of 

Cnidos . II, 3; III, I. 

A Soothsayer I, 2; II, 4; HI, I. 

CiNNA, a poet Ill, 3. 

A Poet IV, 3. 

LuciLius, a friend to Brutus and 

Cassius IV, 2, 3; V, I, 3, 4, 5. 

TiTiNius, a f'iend to Brutus and 

Cassius IV, 2, 3; V, i, 3. 

98 



List of Characters. 

Messala, a friend to Brutus and 

Cassius IV, 3; V, I, 2, 3, 5. 

Young Cato, a friend to Brutus 

and Cassius V, 3, 4. 

VOLUMNIUS, a friend to Brutus 

^«^ Cassius V, 3, 5. 

Varro, servant to Brutus . . . IV, 3. 

Clitus, servant to Brutus . . . V, 5. 

Claudius, servant to Brutus . . IV, 3. 

Strato, servant to Brutus . . V, 3, 5. 

Lucius, servant to Brutus ... 11, i, 4; IV, 2, 3. 

Dardanius, servant to Brutus . V, 5. 

PiNDARUS, servant to Cassius . IV, 2; V, 3. 

Calpurnia, wife to Caesar . . I, 2; II, 2. 

Portia, wife to Brutus . . . I, 2; II, i, 4. 

Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attendants, etc. 

SCENE. — During a great part of the Play at Rome; after- 
wards AT Sardis, and near Philippi. 



99 



APPENDIX 

THE WRITING AND PUBLICATION OF JULIUS 
CiESAR 

Shakespeare produced his plays and poems during a 

period of about twenty years, which is almost equally 

divided by the close of the i6th century. 

*' Tulius Caesar" must have been written be-^ ®?. ® 

-' . . ''Julius 

tween 1598 and 1603. Most critics agree now caesar" in 

in assigning it to the year 1601. It therefore Shake- 
stands almost exactly at the middle of the spe^e's 
dramatist's career, and is the first of those 
great tragedies, "Hamlet," '^Othello," ''King Lear,'' 
'' Macbeth," '' Antony and Cleopatra," which have given 
their author world-wide and enduring fame. In 1601 all 
the popular comedies had been wTitten ; wdth the excep- 
tion of " Romeo and Juliet " none of the tragedies had 
appeared. Thus " Julius Caesar " marks an important 
turning-point in Shakespeare's life and dramatic work. 

From external and internal evidence the play belongs 
to the same period as " Hamlet." The language of these 
two great tragedies has several points of marked „, , 
resemblance. As Brandes and other critics tion of 
have pointed out, there is also an interesting ''Julius 
similarity in the chief characters of the two ^^^^''^^„ 
plays. " Brutus and Hamlet are both thrust 
into action from a . life of contemplation : Brutus is an 
idealist ; Hamlet, a scholar and dreamer. Both are unfit 
for the work they are called upon to do, and both, in the 
end, bungle it badly ; Hamlet from delay and uncertainty, 

lOI 



Appendix. 

Brutus from mistaken judgment. The study of the ideahst 
thrown into the world of action must have appealed to 
Shakespeare's imagination, and those critics do not seem 
far afield who consider Brutus the sketch from which 
Hamlet is built up."^ A passage in ^'Hamlet" which 
enumerates the prodigies that preceded Caesar's death, 
an allusion to Roman suicides, and the statement by 
Polonius, " I did enact Julius Caesar : I was killed i' the 
Capitol; Brutus killed me," — all seem to indicate that 
*' Julius Caesar " was written, if not in the same year, cer- 
tainly not long before the greatest of all Shakespeare's 
tragedies, '^Hamlet." 

As far as we know, '^ Julius Caesar" was never printed 
in the poet's lifetime. As was the case with nineteen of 
The first ^'^ other plays, it first appeared in print in 
publication the Folio of 1623 (see page 133), where it 
of '' Julius stands among the tragedies before " Macbeth " 
CsBsar." ^^j following ^^ Coriolanus " and ^'Timon of 

Athens." The fact that the play is remarkably short has 
been accounted for by supposing that the copy which 
came into the hands of the publishers, Heminge and Con- 
dell, had been cut down and adapted for stage purposes. 
There are some reasons, moreover, for thinking that this 
shortening was done by Shakespeare's friend, Ben Jonson. 
Whether this is so or not, the text is remarkably free from 
doubtful passages and evident misprints. The fact, also, 
that the poet's diction in 1601 was simpler,'his style more 
flowing, and to modern readers easier than it became in 
the later tragedies, makes " Juhus Caesar " one of the 
least difficult plays for young people to read. 

1 George C. D. Odell, Shakespeare's " Julius Caesar," page xviii. 

102 



SOURCES OF JULIUS C^SAR 

Young persons studying a Shakespearian play for the 
first time are often surprised, and sometimes even dis- 
tressed, to learn that the stories of the drama- 
tist's works were not original with him. Ori^i- Originality 

1- r 1 1 1 1 • i- . r of plot un- 

nality of plot seems to them the chief requisite important 

of greatness ; a worker in second-hand material 
falls under their scorn ; they begin to wonder just why 
this borrower of other men's ideas has been rated so 
highly and so profoundly admired by their elders. This is 
not strange. Action, movement, complication of events, — 
all that goes to make up a plot, — is interesting and there- 
fore important to boys and girls. They are naturally 
more concerned with w^hat the hero does^ than how he does 
it, or how he talks, or w^hat he is like. Moreover, in our 
novel-reading, inventive age, — in our age of '^movies" 
and of everything new and startling, — it is not surprising 
that false values are given to things just because they are 
original. It is difficult even for mature people to see that 
originality of plot in story or play is really the least im- 
portant element in the final test of its worth. They must 
be reminded that any one with a Httle clever inventive- 
ness can work out a complicated and entirely new series 
of events. Thousands of short stories and novels appear 
every year in our magazines with plots that are skilfully 
woven and often remarkably original. Beyond that they 
have nothing to recommend them, so that after a mo- 
ment's curiosity to see " how they come out," they are 
completely neglected and soon forgotten. The fact that 

103 



Appendix. 

in plot and action they are ^^ something new " and clever 
gives them no claim whatsoever to the enduring fame of 
literature. 

It is therefore not a sign of weakness or of a shallow 
mind to find Shakespeare making use of material already 
at his disposal. On the contrary, it is evi- 
speare not dence of wisdom and good judgment. He 
a writer of was above bothering his head with new plots 
original ^^ amuse his audiences. All his mind and 
skill and strength were needed for more essen- 
tial things. Old plays, Italian novels, Plutarch's Lives, 
chronicles of English history, furnished him with incidents 
and characters with which to work. The best elements of 
these he skilfully chose, made over, and combined ; but 
next to nothing did he himself invent. The force of his 
wonderful genius was spent in drawing character so clearly 
and so true to human nature that the men and women of 
his plays became distinct personalities that have lived 
now for three hundred years in the hearts of the people. 
Falstaff, Portia, Shylock, Rosalind, Hamlet, Desdemona, 
Macbeth, Juliet, Lear, — these are as real as any who 
have lived in the annals of history. Then again, the lan- 
guage and the poetry of the plays, the sentiments, the wit, 
and above all the artistic blending of thought and charac- 
ter and action, are his and his alone. The sources of the 
stories which Shakespeare used no one ever reads. They 
are commonplace, flat, and unworthy of our interest. Yet 
these same stories remoulded, polished, and filled with the 
inspiration of Shakespeare's genius, have become master- 
pieces of literature. 

It is well that Shakespeare was not attracted to the in- 
venting of elaborate and original plots, for he must have 

104 



Sources. 

been busy enough as it was. In their demand for novelty 
in stage attractions audiences then required a new play, 
on an average, every sixteen or seventeen Advantages 
days. Intense rivalry existed between the of using old 
various companies of actors. In their struggle material 
for popularity, which meant their daily bread, ^ ^^^* 
playwrights turned off their work with astonishing rapid- 
ity. Thus in the twenty years of his London activity 
Shakespeare wrote, in whole or in part, about forty plays. 
^' Driven by the necessity of speed on the one hand, and 
by anxiety to catch the popular fancy on the other, is it 
any wonder that he never stopped to devise a plot ? What 
need was there that he should do so ? The manager of 
the company had many an old play which, at one time or 
another, had been submitted to the test of public ap- 
proval. ... To such plays, if selected for revision, a cer- 
tain amount of popularity was thus assured in advance ; 
and as for the plot, — the barest skeleton sufficed for 
Shakespeare. He knew that he could remodel it into fair 
proportions and relume it with life. Of all that goes to 
make up one of his dramas, the plot in itself, in its mere 
outlines, is of less importance than any other element in 
it. Of course, in the nature of things, it is not to be sup- 
posed that after he had selected the old play to be re- 
juvenated he either adhered to it closely, or refused hints 
from other sources. Old ballads, books of travels, histo- 
ries, the gossip of the day, — all were put under contribu- 
tion. As Emerson says : ' Every master has found his 
materials collected, and his power lay in his sympathy 
with his people, and in his love for the materials he 
WTought in.' " ^ 

1 Dr. H. H. Furness: New Variorum Edition, " Merchant of Venice." 

105 



Appendix. 

In ^* Julius Caesar/' though Shakespeare is not writing 
history or chronicle, he is dramatizing a chapter of his- 
,,- . tory. The theme of his tragedy is the fall of 

Caesar," a Caesar, — the conspiracy, the assassination, and 
historical the fate of the men who brought about his 
rage y. death. The poet, to be sure, treats historical 
facts with great freedom. Exactness of time and place 
give way to the necessity of making a good story ; for his 
purpose is not primarily to educate his audience in details 
of Roman history, but rather to make an interesting, stir- 
ring play. Yet the spirit and ideals of the times are well 
portrayed in the drama; indeed, the person may well 
count himself fortunate whose introduction to the times 
of Caesar is Shakespeare's drama rather than the pages 
of a textbook of history. 

The history of Julius Caesar had probably been seen on 
the stage, in several different forms, before Shakespeare's 
time. A Latin play on this subject was performed at 
Oxford in 1582, from which the poet's '^ Et tu, Brute " may 
have been taken. References are also found to other plays 
dealing with the same theme, though it is extremely doubt- 
ful whether Shakespeare was at all influenced by them. 
His chief source of '' Julius Caesar" was Plu- 
speare's tarch's lives of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony, 
use of written in Greek in the first century a.d., and 

Plutarch's translated into French by Jacques Amyot, 
Bishop of Auxerre, in 1559. Twenty years 
later, when Shakespeare was seven years old, this French 
edition was translated into English by Sir Thomas North, 
and it was this version of Plutarch that the poet read and 
used when writing his play. Probably in no other of his 
works did he follow his sources so closely. Many expres- 

106 



Sources. 

sions he took word for word from North, and several pas- 
sages are little more than the language of the biographer 
turned into stately blank verse. The structure of the 
play, however, is wholly the poet's own. So, too, are 
the life, the color, the movement, the imaginative powder, 
the lines that have become familiar quotations, — every- 
thing that makes the tragedy a work of art and a master- 
piece of literature. The sources from which he drew his 
facts are seldom read. Except to the student of the poet's 
methods they are of but little interest to-day ; whereas the 
play, which Shakespeare's genius made out of them, lives 
and gives pleasure to young and old in the twentieth cen- 
tury, as it did in the days of Queen Elizabeth three hun- 
dred years ago. 



107 



SELECTIONS FROM NORTH'S PLUTARCH 

The following two short passages from ^or\h''s Plutarch 
will suffice to show how closely Shakespeare often followed 
the words of the biographies which he used when writing 
his play. 

1. // rejoiceth 7ny heart that not one of my friends hath failed 
me at ?ny need. . . . For as for me, I think myself happier 
than they that have overcome, considering that I leave a perpetual 
fame of virtue and honesty, the which our enemies the conquerors 
shall never attain unto by force or money, etc. 

In V, 5, Z?)~Z^'> w^ fi^^ these words cast into verse and 
ennobled by Shakespeare. 

Countrymen, 
My heart doth joy that yet in all my life 
I found no man but he was true to me. 
I shall have glory by this losing day 
More than Octavius and Mark Antony 
By this vile conquest shall attain unto. 

2. For it was said that Antonius spake it openly divers times 
that he thought that of all them that had slain Caesar, there was 
none but Brutus only that was moved to do it, as thinking the 
act commendable of itself; but that all the other conspirators did 
conspire his death for some private malice or envy that they 
otherwise did bear against him. 

In the play we have these four lines : — 

All the conspirators, save only he, 

Did that they did in envy of great Caesar ; 

He only, in a general honest thought 

And common good to all, made one of them. 

V, 5, 69-72. 

Following are a number of the more interesting pas- 
sages in North's Plutarch which the poet followed closely, 

T08 



Plutarch. 

or from which he took an idea. It will be a profitable 
study to compare word for word these selections with the 
corresponding lines in the play. Nothing can show more 
clearly the method of the dramatist, or the skill which he 
used in working over his prose material into poetry of the 
highest type. 

1. Caesar sat to behold that sport upon the pulpit for orations, 
in a chain of gold, apparelled in triumphant manner. Antonius, 
who was Consul at that time, was one of them that ran this holy 
course. So when he came into the market-place, the people 
made a lane for him to run at liberty, and he came to Caesar, and 
presented him a diadem wreathed about with laurel. Whereupon 
there rose a certain cry of rejoicing, not very great, done only by 
a few appointed for the purpose. But when Caesar refused the 
diadem, then all the people together made an outcry of joy. 
Then Antonius offering it him again, there was a second shout 
of joy, but yet' of a few. But when Caesar refused it again the 
second time, then all the whole people shouted. Caesar, having 
made this proof, found that the people did not like of it, and 
thereupon rose out of his chair and commanded the crown to be 
carried unto Jupiter in the Capitol. After that there were set up 
images of Caesar in the city, with diadems upon their heads like 
kings. Those the two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went and 
pulled down, and furthermore, meeting with them that first 
saluted Caesar as king, they committed them to prison. 

F\ut2irch, /ulms Ccesar. Shakespeare, I, 2. 

2. Furthermore, there was a certaine Soothsayer, that had 
given Caesar warning long afore, to take heed of the day of the 
Ides of March (which is the fifteenth of the moneth), for on that 
day he should be in great danger. That day being come, Caesar 
going unto the Senate-house, and speaking merrily to the sooth- 
sayer, told him, ^'The Ides of March be come." ** So they be," 
softly answered the soothsayer, '^but yet are they not past." 

P\ut?irch, /ulms CcBsar. Shakespeare, I, 2, and III, i. 

109 



Appendix. 

3. Then going to bed the same night, as his manner was, 
and lying with his wife Calpurnia, all the windows and doors of 
his chamber flying open, the noise awoke him, and made him 
afraid when he saw such light ; but more, when he heard his wdfe 
Calpurnia, being fast asleep, weep and sigh, and put forth many 
fumbhng lamentable speeches ; for she dreamed that Caesar was 
slain, and that she had him in her arms. . . . Insomuch that 
Caesar, rising in the morning, she prayed him, if it were possible, 
not to go out of the doors that day, but to adjourn the session 
of the Senate until another day. And if that he made no reck- 
oning of her dream, yet that he would search further of the 
soothsayers by their sacrifices, to know what should happen him 
that day. Thereby it seemed that Caesar likewise did fear or 
suspect somewhat, because his wife Calpurnia until that time was 
never given to any fear and superstition, and that then he saw 
her so troubled in mind with this dream she had. But much 
more afterwards, when the soothsayers having sacrificed many 
beasts one after another, told him that none did like them ; then 
he determined to send Antonius to adjourn the session of the 
Senate. 

Plutarch, /^//^i" CcEsar, Shakespeare, II, 2. 

4. But when they had opened Caesar's testament, and found a 
liberal legacy of money bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome, 
and that they saw his body (which was brought into the market- 
place) all be mangled with gashes of swords, then there was no 
order to keep the multitude and common people quiet, but they 
plucked up forms, tables, and stools, and laid them all about the 
body ; and setting them afire, burnt the corse. Then when the 
fire was well kindled, they took the fire-brands, and went unto 
their houses that had slain Caesar, to set them afire. Other also 
ran up and down the city to see if they could meet with any of 
them, to cut them in pieces : howbeit they could meet with never 
a man of them, because they had locked themselves up safely in 
their houses. There was one of Caesar's friends called Cinna, 
that had a marvellous strange and terrible dream the night 

IIO 



Plutarch. 

before. He dreamed that Caesar bade him to supper, and that 
he refused, and would not go ; then that Caesar took him by the 
hand, and led him against his will. Now Cinna, hearing at that 
time that they burnt Caesar's body in the market-place, notwith- 
standing that he feared His dream, and had an ague on him 
besides, he went into the market-place to honour his funerals. 
When he came thither, one of mean sort asked him what his 
name was? He was straight called by his name. The first man 
told it to another, and that other unto another, so that it ran 
straight through them all, that he was one of them that mur- 
thered Caesar (for indeed one of the traitors to Caesar was also 
called Cinna as himself), wherefore taking him for Cinna the 
murtherer, they fell upon him with such fury that they presently 
despatched him in the market-place. 

Plutarch, Julius CcEsar. Shakespeare, HI, 2 and 3. 

5. Now Caesar, on the other side, did not trust him over- 
much, nor was without tales brought unto him against him, 
howbeit he feared his great mind, authority, and friends. Yet, 
on the other side also, he trusted his good nature and fair condi- 
tions. For intelligence being brought him one day that Antonius 
and Dolabella did conspire against him, he answered "That 
these fat long-haired men made him not afraid, but the lean and 
whitely-faced fellows,^' meaning by that Brutus and Cassius. 

Plutarch, Brutus, Shakespeare, I, 2. 

6. But for Brutus, his friends and countrymen, both by divers 
procurements and sundry rumours of the city, and by many bills 
also, did openly call and procure him to do that he did. For 
under the image of his ancestor Junius Brutus (that drave the 
kings out of Rome) they wrote, " Oh, that it pleased the gods 
thou wert now alive, Brutus ! " and again, *^ That thou wert here 
among us now ! '^ His tribunal or chair where he gave audience 
during the time he was praetor was full of such bills : " Brutus, 
thou art asleep, and art not Brutus indeed." 

Plutarch, Brutus, Shakespeare, II, i-. 

Ill 



Appendix. 

7. Brutus, who went to see him being sick in his bed, and 
said unto him, '' Ligarius, in what time art thou sick? '' Ligarius 
rising up in his bed, and taking him by the right hand, said unto 
him, " Brutus," said he, " if thou hast any great enterprise in 
hand worthy of thyself, I am whole/' 

Plutarch, Brutus. Shakespeare, II, 2. 

8. Then perceiving her husband was marvellously out of 
quiet, and that he could take no rest, even in her greatest pain 
of all she spake in this sort unto him : " I being, O Brutus," said 
she, ^^ the daughter of Cato, was married unto thee ; not to be thy 
bed-fellow and companion in bed and at board only, like a harlot, 
but to be partaker also with thee thy good and evil fortune. 
Now for thyself, I can find no cause of fault in thee touching our 
match ; but for my part, how may I shew my duty towards thee 
and how much I would do for thy sake, if I cannot constantly 
bear a secret mischance or grief with thee, which requireth secrecy 
and fidelity? I confess that a woman's wit commonly is too 
weak to keep a secret safely, but yet, Brutus, good education and 
the company of virtuous men have some power to reform the 
defect of nature. And for myself, I have this benefit moreover, 
that I am the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus. This not- 
withstanding, I did not trust to any of these things before, until 
that now I have found by experience that no pain or grief what- 
soever can overcome me." With those words she shewed him 
her wound on her thigh, and told him what she had done to 
prove herself. Brutus was amazed to hear what she said unto 
him, and lifting up his hands to heaven, he besought the gods to 
give him the grace he might bring his enterprise to so good pass, 
that he might be found a husband worthy of so noble a wife as 
Porcia ; so he then did comfort her the best he could. 

Plutarch, Brutus. ^ Shakespeare, II, i. 

9. When this was done, they came to talk of Caesar's will 
and testament and of his funerals and tomb. Then Antoniusj 
thinking good his testament should be read openly, and also 

I 12 



Plutarch. 

that his body should be honourably buried, and not in hugger- 
mugger, lest the people might thereby take occasion to be worse 
offended if they did otherwise, Cassius stoutly spake against it. 
But Brutus went with the motion and agreed unto it, wherein it 
seemeth he committed a second fault. For the first fault he did 
was when he would not consent to his fellow-conspirators that 
Antonius should be slain ; and therefore he was justly accused 
that thereby he had saved and strengthened a strong and griev- 
ous enemy of their conspiracy. The second fault was w^hen he 
agreed that Caesar's funerals should be as Antonius would have 
them, the which indeed marred all. For first of all, when 
Caesar's testament was openly read among them, whereby it 
appeared that he bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome 75 
drachmas a man, and that he left his gardens and arbours unto 
the people, which he had on this side of the river Tiber, in the 
place W'here now the temple of Fortune is built, the people then 
loved him, and were marvellous sorry for him. Afterwards, when 
Caesar's body was 'brought into the market-place, Antonius 
making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to 
the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his words 
moved the common people to compassion, he framed his elo- 
quence to make their hearts yearn the more, and taking Caesar's 
gown all bloody in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them 
all, shewing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. 
Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and 
mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common 
people. For some of them cried out, '^Kill the murtherers !" 
others plucked up forms, tables, and stalls about the market- 
place, as they had done before at the funerals of Clodius, and 
having laid them all in a heap together, they set them on fire, 
and thereupon did put the body of Caesar, and burnt it in the 
midst of the most holy places. And furthermore, when the fire 
was thoroughly kindled, some here, some there, took burning 
firebrands, and ran with them to the murtherers' houses that 
killed him, to set them on fire. Howbeit the conspirators, for- 

113 



Appendix. 



seeing the danger before, had wisely provided for themselves and 
fled. 

Plutarch, Brutus, Shakespeare, III, 2. 

10. About that time Brutus sent to pray Cassius to come to 
the city of Sardis, and so he did. Brutus, understanding of his 
coming, went to meet him with all his friends. There both 
their armies being armed, they called them both Emperors, 
Now as it commonly happened in great affairs between two per- 
sons, both of them having many friends and so many captains 
under them, there ran tales and complaints betwixt them. 
Therefore, before they fell in hand with any other matter, they 
went into a little chamber together, and bade every man avoid, 
and did shut the doors to them. Then they began to pour out 
their complaints one to the other, and grew hot and loud, ear- 
nestly accusing one another, and at length fell both a-weeping. 
Their friends that were without the chamber, hearing them loud 
within, and angry between themselves, they were both amazed 
and afraid also, lest it would grow to further matter, but yet they 
were commanded that no man should come to them. 

Plutarch, Brutus. Shakespeare, IV, 3. 

11. This Phaonius at that time, in despite of the doorkeepers, 
came into the chamber, and with a certain scoffing and mocking 
gesture, which he counterfeited of purpose, he rehearsed the 
verses which old Nestor said in Homer: 

My lords, I pray you hearken both to me. 
For I have seen moe years than suchie three. 

Cassius fell a-laughing at him ; but Brutus thrust him out of the 
chamber, and called him dog, and counterfeit Cynic. Howbeit 
his coming in brake their strife at that time, and so they left 
each other. 

Plutarch, Brutus, Shakespeare, IV, 3. 

12. So, being ready to go into Europe, one night very late 
(when all the camp took quiet rest) as he was in his tent with a 

114 



Plutarch. 

little light, thinking of weighty matters, he thought he heard one 
come in to him, and casting his eye towards the door of his tent, 
that he saw a wonderful strange and monstrous shape of a body 
coming towards him, and said never a word. So Brutus boldly 
asked what he was, a god or a man, and what cause brought him 
thither? The spirit answered him, " I am thy evil spirit, Brutus, 
and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippes." Brutus being 
no otherwise afraid, replied again unto it, " Well, then I shall 
see thee again." 

Plutarch, Briitus. Shakespeare, IV, 3. 

13. Now the night being far spent, Brutus as he sat bowed 
towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his 
ear : the other answered him not, but fell a-weeping. Thereupon 
he proved Dardanus, and said somewhat also to him ; at length 
he came to Volumnius himself, and speaking to him in Greek, 
prayed him for the studies' sake which brought them acquainted 
together, that he would help him to put his hand to his sword, 
to thrust it in him to kill him. Volumnius denied his request, 
and so did many others; and amongst the rest, one of them 
said, there was no tarrying for them there, but that they must 
needs fly. Then Brutus, rising up, "We must fly indeed," said 
he, " but it must be with our hands, not with our feet." Having 
so said, he prayed every man to shift for himself, and then he 
went a little aside with two or three only, among the which Strato 
was one with whom he came first acquainted by the study of 
rhetoric. He came as near to him as he could, and taking his 
sword by the hilt with both his hands, and falling down upon the 
point of it, ran himself through. Others say that not he, but 
Strato (at his request) held the sword in his hand, and turned 
his head aside, and that Brutus fell down upon it, and so ran 
himself through, and died presently. 

Plutarch, Brutus, Shakespeare, V, 5 . 



115 



FAMILIAR PASSAGES IN JULIUS CiESAR 

When you first take a play of Shakespeare's in hand, 
you soon begin to have the feehng that you have read this 
before, though you know you have not. The fact is, 
Shakespeare expressed the general mind and common 
feeling of us all in phrases so packed with meaning, so 
full of insight into human nature, so happy in figure and 
choice of words, that we have adopted them and added 
them to our stock of everyday language. Only the Bible 
has contributed more of these stock phrases to modern 
Enghsh speech. The result is that we are constantly 
quoting words and even whole lines from Shakespeare's 
plays without knowing it. Some of these unconscious 
quotations are ''the king's Enghsh," ''sweets to the 
sweet," " at a pin's fee," " what's in a name ? " " last, but 
not least," " single blessedness," " the short and long of 
it," "forever and a day," "in my mind's eye," "the game 
is up," "what's done is done," '* the pink of courtesy," 
"parting is such sweet sorrow," "I'll not budge an 
inch," etc. 

With the exception of "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and 
" The Merchant of Venice," none of the plays have con- 
tributed a greater number of familiar phrases to our 
speech to-day than " Julius Caesar." Here are some of 
the most interesting. Others may be found in Bartlett's 
"Familiar Quotations." It will interest you to try to 
place them by recalling when and where and by whom 
they were spoken. How many of them had you heard 
before you studied the play ? Learn as many of them as 
you can. 

ii6 



Familiar Passages. 



I 



The dogs of war. 

2. It was Greek to me. 

3. He is a great observer, and he looks 
Quite through the deeds of men. 

4. This was the noblest Roman of them all 1 

5. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather. 

6. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen ! 

7. Let me have men about me that are fat, 
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. 

8. Beware the ides of March. 

9. The choice and master spirits of this age. 

10. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, 
Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed. 
That he is grown so great ? 

11. A friend should bear his friend's infirmities. 

12. We must take the current when it serves, 
Or lose our ventures. 

13. Et tu. Brute ! 

14. Men at some time are masters of their fates. 

15. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 

16. Between the acting of a dreadful thing 
And the first motion, all the interim is 
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream. 

17. I only speak right on. 

18. The last of all the Romans, fare thee well I 

19. But yesterday the word of Caesar might 

Have stood against the world ; now lies he there 
And none so poor to do him reverence. 

20. If we do meet again, why, we shall smile ; 

If not, why then this parting was well made. 

21. There is a tide in the affairs of men 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 

117 



Appendix. 

22. Honour is the subject of my story. 

23. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; 
He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. 

24. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. 

25. The livelong day. 

26. I had rather be a dog and bay the moon 
Than such a Roman. 

27. This was the most unkindest cut of all. 

28. Though last, not least in love. 

29. Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome 

more. 

30. 'Tis a common proof 

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder. 

31. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 
Like a Colossus, and we petty men 

Walk under his huge legs and peep about 
To find ourselves dishonourable graves. 

32. I am no orator as Brutus is, 

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man. 

33. O, that a man might know 

The end of this day's business ere it comes. 

34. An itching palm. 

35. Who is here so base that would be a bondman ? 
;^6, Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 

That ever lived in the tide of times. 
37. Cowards die many times before their deaths ; 

The valiant never taste of death but once. 
;^S. The evil that men do lives after them ; 

The good is oft interred with their bones. 

39. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. 

40. A dish fit for the gods. 



118 



WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT SHAKESPEARE 

The facts that we know with absolute certainty about 
William Shakespeare can be given in a few meagre para- 
graphs. Some bare, prosaic records in Strat- -, - . 
ford and in the Stationers' Register in Lon- known 
don, a few signatures, a will, a deed or two, about 

an application for a coat-of-arms, an occasional Shake- 
- , . ,. . speare. 

mention of his name m court proceedings, in 

lists of actors, and in the works of fellow authors, — this 
is about all we have as the basis for a life of one of the 
greatest men that the world has produced. Traditions 
and quaint fanciful stories exist, as we might expect, in 
infinite number and variety. Many of .these date back to 
the poet's own time, and therefore may have in them at 
least an element of truth. By far the greater number, 
however, gained popularity nearly a century after his 
death, when the curiosity of an age intensely interested in 
the drama began to look back and talk about the most 
marvellous of all the makers of plays. Few of these later 
traditions can be relied upon. Yet from the few scrappy 
facts that we have, supplemented by the earlier legends, 
and above all by a study of the plays themselves, it is 
possible to make a story of the poet's life, which, though 
by no means complete, is full enough to give us a fairly 
clear understanding of his growth in fame and business 
prosperity, and his development as a dramatist. 

It is not strange that we know so little about Shake- 
speare. His age was not one of biographical writing. 
To-day a man of not one tenth part of his genius is be- 
sought by reporters for interviews concerning his life ; 

119 



Appendix. 

he is persuaded by admiring friends to write his mem- 
oirs ; as his end approaches, every important newspaper 

„„ in the land has an article of several columns 

Why we 

know so ready to prmt the instant that word of his death 

little about comes over the wire. Three hundred and fifty 

Shake- years ago nothing of this kind was possible. 

speare. 

Newspapers and magazmes, genealogies and 

contemporary history did not exist. Encyclopaedias, dic- 
tionaries of names, directories, ^'blue-books," and volumes 
of '' Who's Who " had not been dreamed of. Personal cor- 
respondence was meagre, and what few letters were written 
seldom were preserved. Above all, a taste for reading the 
lives of men had not been formed. In fact, it was not until 
fifty years after Shakespeare's time that the art of biograph- 
ical writing in England was really born. When we remem- 
ber, in addition to these facts, that actors and playwrights 
then held a distinctly inferior position in society, and by 
the growing body of Puritans were looked upon with con- 
tempt and extreme disfavor, it is not surprising that no 
special heed was paid to the life of Shakespeare. On the 
contrary, it is astonishing that we know as much as we do 
about him, — fully as much as we know about most of the 
writers of his time, and even of many who lived much 
later. 

In the records of the i6th century there are numer- 
ous references to Shakespeares living in the midland 
, , counties of England, especially in Warwick- 

father, John shire. For the most part, they seem to have 
Shake- been substantial yeomen and plain farmers of 

speare. sound practical sense rather than men of learn- 

ing or culture. Some of them owned land and prospered. 
Such a one was John Shakespeare, who moved to Strat- 

I20 



Shakespeare's Life. 

ford-on- A von about 1550 and became a dealer in malt and 
corn, meat, wool, and leather. He is referred to some- 
times as a glover and a butcher. Probably he was both, 
and dealt besides in all the staples that farmers about the 
village produced and brought to market to sell. The fact 
that he could not write, which was nothing unusual among 
men of his station in the i6th century, did not prevent his 
prospering in business. For more than twenty years after 
the earliest mention of his name in the Stratford records, 
he is spoken of frequently "and always in a way to show us 
that his financial standing in the community was steadily 
increasing. He seems also to have been a man of affairs. 
From one office to another he rose until in 1568 he 
held the position of High Bailiff, or Mayor of Stratford. 
Eleven years earlier his fortunes had been increased by 
his marriage to Mary Arden, the daughter of a prosperous 
farmer of the neighboring village of Wilmcote, who be- 
queathed to his daughter a house, with fifty acres of land, 
and a considerable sum of money. It is not fair, there- 
fore, to speak of the father of William Shakespeare, as 
some have done, as ^' an uneducated peasant," or as "a 
provincial shopkeeper." At the time of the birth of his 
illustrious son he was one of the most prominent men in 
Stratford, decidedly well-to-do, respected and trusted by all. 
The year before John Shakespeare brought his bride 
from Wilmcote to Stratford-on-Avon, he had purchased 

a house in Henley Street, and there he and „, , 

. . . The house 

his wife were living when their, children were j^ which 

born. It was a cottage two stories high, with Shake- 
dormer windows, and of timber and plaster spearewas 
construction. Though frequently repaired and 
built over during the three hundred and fifty years that 

121 



Appendix. 

have passed, it still remains in general appearance much 
the same as it looked in 1556. Simple, crude, plain, -^ it 
is nevertheless the most famous house in England, if not 
in the world. Noted men and women from all parts of 
the earth have visited Stratford to see it. Essays, stories, 
and poems have been written about it. Preserved in the 
care of the Memorial Society, it is the shrine of the liter- 
ary pilgrim and the Mecca of tourists who flock during 
the summer to the quaint old village ou the Avon. For 
here, in a small bare room on the second floor, William 
Shakespeare was born. 

How little we know of Shakespeare, compared with 
even a minor poet of the 19th century, is shown by the 
D t of the ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ certain of the exact date 
poet's birth, on which the greatest of all poets was born. 
April 23, The records of Holy Trinity Church in Strat- 
1564. £^^j show that the child was baptized on April 

26, 1564, and since it was the custom at that time for the 
baptism of children to take place on the third day after 
birth, it has been generally agreed that William was born 
on April 23, and that date is celebrated as his birthday. 
Tradition tells us, and probably truthfully, that it was also 
on this date, April 23, in 16 16, that he died. 

Of the poet's boyhood we know next to nothing. It is 

a mistake, however, to assume that he lacked educational 

opportunities. There was in Stratford an ex- 

ake- cellent free Grammar School such as a bailiff's 

speare's ... 

boyhood ^^^ would attend, and to which it is reasonable 

and school- to suppose that the boy was sent. Here he 

i^^V^^'^'^' ^^"^^^^ chiefly Latin, for education then in 

England consisted almost entirely of the 

classics, especially Vergil, Ovid, Horace, and the comedies 

122 




Shakespeare's House at Stratford-on-Avon 




The Room where Shakespeare was Born 



Shakespeare's Life. 

of Plautus and Terence. The comment of Ben Jonson, 
his fellow dramatist of later years, that Shakespeare had 
'' small Latin and less Greek," should not be taken too 
literally. Compared with the profound scholarship of a 
college-trained man like Jonson, the Stratford boy had, to 
be sure, but little knowledge of the classics. Yet there is 
every evidence to show that he understood both Latin 
and French pretty well, and that he knew the Bible thor- 
oughly. It is clear, too, that by nature he was a boy of 
remarkable powers of observation and keenly retentive 
memory, who used every opportunity about him for ac- 
quiring information and ideas. Whether he went to 
school or not would have made but little difference to one 
whose mind possessed rare powers of developing and 
training itself. Like Burns and Lincoln, he was educated 
more by people and the world of Nature about him than 
by books and formal teaching. 

Ordinarily a boy of the i6th century would remain at 
the Grammar School from seven to fourteen, but there is 

a well-founded tradition that Shakespeare left _,. 

^ Five years 

m 1597, when he was thirteen years old, and in Stratford 

never attended school again. About this time after leav- 

the records show that his father's financial dif- j^.^^'^^^^!: 

1577-1682. 
Acuities began. Another pair of hands was 

needed at home to help in the support of the family, and 
William w^as the oldest son. Just how he was occupied, 
however, between his fourteenth and eighteenth years we 
cannot say. Probably he assisted his father in his declin- 
ing business. One of the bits of Stratford gossip, collected 
by the antiquarian Aubrey, states that he was ^^ in his 
younger years a school-master in the country," and another 
tells us that ^* when he was a boy he exercised his father's 

123 



Appendix. 

trade. When he killed a calf, he would doe it in a high style 
and make a speech/' It may be, as another reference 
seems to imply, that he was employed in the office of a 
lawyer. But we must not put too much confidence in these 
traditions, which, like all stories passed on by word of 
mouth, grew and changed as the years went by. As much 
as we should like to know of his employment, his reading, 
and all the circumstances that were developing his mind 
and character during these five important years, we must 
remember that " there is no reason why anything should 
have been recorded ; he was an obscure boy living in an 
inland village, before the age of newspapers, and out of 
relation with people of fashion and culture. During this 
period as little is known of him as is known of Cromwell 
during the same period ; as little, but no less. This fact 
gives no occasion either for surprise or scepticism as to 
his marvellous genius ; it was an entirely normal fact con- 
cerning boys growing up in unliterary times and in rural 
communities."^ 

The first really authentic record we have of Shakespeare 
after his school days is that of the baptism of his daughter 
„. Susanna, on May 26, 1583. The previous year, 

riageto when only eighteen, he had married Anne 

Anne Hath- Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer in the 
away, 1682. neighboring village of Shottery. This pictur- 
esque hamlet was reached then from Stratford, as it is to- 
day, by a delightful foot-path through the wide and fertile 
fields of Warwickshire. Perhaps no other spot connected 
with the poet's life, except the house in which he was born, 
is dearer to people's hearts than the quaint old thatched- 

1 H. W. Mabie : " William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man," 
page 51. 

124 




Anne Hathaway' s Cottage at Shottery 




Interior of Anne Hathaway' s Cottage 



Shakespeare's Life. 

roof building known as "Anne Hathaway's cottage "; for 
it still stands, at least in part, as it was when the " youth- 
ful lover went courting through the meadows, past the 
* bank where the wild thyme blows,' to Shottery.'' Two 
years after the birth of Susanna, in February, 1585, twins 
were born, and soon after the youthful husband and father 
left his native town to seek his fortunes in London. 

It would be most interesting to know when and how and 
just why Shakespeare left Stratford, but no documents 
have been found that throw any certain light 
upon this portion of his life. It has generally igg^^jj^- 
been assumed that he found his way to the Stratford: 
metropolis soon after the birth of his twins. ^^ poach- 
Probably he walked by the highway through J?^ ^^ 
Oxford and Wycombe, or if he rode it was on 
horseback, purchasing a saddle-horse at the beginning of 
his journey, as was the custom then, and selling it upon his 
arrival in the city. There is an old tradition that, with 
other young men of the village, he had been involved in a 
poaching escapade upon the estate of Sir Thomas Lucy. 
In the first regular biography of Shakespeare written by 
Nicholas Rowe in 1709, nearly a hundred years after the 
poet's death, the story of this adventure is given as an 
actual fact. '^ He had, by a misfortune common enough 
among young fellows, fallen into ill company, and among 
them some that made a frequent practice of deer-stealing, 
engaged him with them more than once in robbing a park 
that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, near 
Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by that gentleman, 
as he thought, somewhat too severely ; and, in order to 
revenge that ill-usage, he made a ballad upon him, and 
though this, probably the first essay of his poetry, be lost, 

125 



Appendix. 

yet it is said to have been so very bitter that it redoubled 
the prosecution against him to that degree that he was 
obliged to leave his business and family in Warwickshire 
and shelter himself in London." No trace of this ballad 
has been found ; indeed, the whole story rests on gossip, 
and must not be taken too literally. It is supported, in a 
way, by the fact that Justice Shallow in '' The Merry Wives 
of Windsor " is unquestionably a humorous sketch, or cari- 
cature, of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote Hall, thus sug- 
gesting that whether he had been prosecuted and harried 
out of town by his wealthy neighbor or not, the youthful 
poet had some personal reasons for ridiculing the head of 
the Lucy family. 

Still another account explains Shakespeare's departure 

from Stratford by stating that he joined a company of 

, strolling players. Though this may possibly 

too narrow have been the means of his finding congenial 

a field for travelling companions, it seems more natural 

Shake- ^^ suppose that he left his native villap:e much 

speare. 

as a boy to-day leaves a remote country town 

and goes to the city to seek his fortune. His father's 
affairs, we know, had been steadily declining ; his own 
family was growing ; business in many trades through the 
midland counties was poor ; any ambitious and high- 
spirited youth would have become restless and discon- 
tented. Vyhat was more natural, under these circumstances, 
than the breaking of home-ties and moving to London for 
its larger opportunities ? 

The traditions that Shakespeare, upon his arrival in 
the capital about 1587, was employed in a printer's shop 
and a lawyer's office, are extremely doubtful. It seems 
much more likely that he became connected with the 

126 



the London 
theatres. 



Shakespeare's Life. 

theatre at once, either as a call-boy in the building itself, 

or as one of those who held the horses on which gallants 

of the city rode to the play-house. That he 

Shake- 
should have turned to the theatre rather than '„ ' 

speares 

to business to get a foothold in London is not first connec- 
strange. Companies of players had frequently tion with 
visited Stratford in his boyhood. Indeed, the 
people of his native town seem to have been 
exceptionally fond of the drama, a fact, as Mr. Mabie 
has pointed out, *^ of very obvious bearing on the educa- 
tion of Shakespeare's imagination and the bent of his 
mind toward a vocation." As a lad of eleven he probably 
saw the pageant at Kenilworth Castle, in honor of Queen 
Elizabeth's visit to the Earl of Leicester. The processions 
and gorgeous costumes of this occasion, the tableaux and 
scenes set forth by the actors from the city must have 
made a profound impression on the mind of the imagina- 
tive boy. Moreover, it was a time of widespread interest 
in everything dramatic. When Shakespeare w^as born in 
1564, there was not a single building in London devoted to 
the presentation of plays. At the time of his death, fifty- 
two years later, there were at least nine. The develop- 
ment of the drama from simple morality plays and historical 
pageants given in tavern-yards and on village greens, to 
" Julius Caesar " and " Hamlet," covered the period of the 
poet's youth; so that when he arrived in London, more than 
ever before or since in English history, the theatre was of 
compelling interest and attraction. 

The six years after his arrival in London are a blank. 
We must imagine him rapidly rising through various posi- 
tions at the Rose or the Curtain, for a young man of his 
genius and enterprise would not long remain obscure. 

127 



Appendix. 

It is certain that he became an actor before he wrote for 

the stage. By 1592, however, he had evidently earned suffi- 

His earliest cient fame as a playwright to stir the jealousy 

work as of Robert Greene, a rival author, who in that 

actor and ygg^j- refers bitterly to him as "in his owne con- 
•Dlavwrifflit 

ceit the only Shakes-scene in a countrie," and 

then parodies a line from an early play that is attributed 
to Shakespeare. While as an actor he was learning stage- 
craft in the best possible school, he was undoubtedly 
trying his prentice hand by mending old plays and con- 
tributing bits to the work of his older companions. 
These earliest dramatic writings may have been numer- 
ous, but they are either entirely lost or hidden in plays 
credited to other men. His progress from a clerk in a 
country store to a writer of drama is thus admirably de- 
scribed by Sidney Lee : "A young man of two-and- 
twenty, burdened with a wife and children, he had left his 
home in the Httle country town of Stratford-on-Avon in 
1586 to seek his fortune in London. Without friends, 
without money, he had, like any other stage-struck youth, 
set his heart on becoming an actor in the metropolis. 
Fortune favoured him. He sought and won the humble 
office of call-boy in a London playhouse ; but no sooner 
had his foot touched the lowest rung of the theatrical 
ladder than his genius taught him that the topmost rung 
was within his reach. He tried his hand on the revision 
of an old play, and the manager was not slow to recognize 
an unmatched gift for dramatic writing.^ 

It was not until 1593, when Shakespeare was twenty- 
nine, that he appeared openly in the field of authorship. 
On April 18 of that year his long poem '^ Venus and 

1 Sidney Lee : " Shakespeare and the Ehzabethan Playgoer," page 32. 

128 



Shakespeare's Life. 

Adonis " was entered at Stationers' Hall for publication. 

It was printed by Richard Field, a Stratford man who 

had come to London somewhat earlier than ,^ - , 

The first 
the poet, and though published without a name books 

on the title-page, the dedication to the Earl published 

of Southampton was signed " WiUiam Shake- ^^^erhis 

. name, 

speare." The same is true of ^^Lucrece," 

which was registered in May of 1594. These two long 
poems must have had wide popularity, for they are often 
praised by critics of the day, and in the poet's own life- 
time several editions of both were issued. They were 
the means by which Shakespeare became known as an 
author, for though some of his dramatic work may have 
been printed before this, plays were not regarded then as 
literature to be read, whereas these poems were issued 
under the poet's supervision for the reading public, and 
were thus *' the first fruits of his conscious artistic life." 

Both as actor and playwright, Shakespeare's fame rap- 
idly increased after 1594; in fact, the eight years that 
follow^ed saw him rise to the height of his 

powers. His name stands first on the list of ^^o^^ess in 

. . fame and 

^' principal Comedians " who acted Jonson's fortune. 

*' Ev^ry Man in his Humour " in 1598. Francis 
Meres in his " Palladis Tamia," published in the same 
year, speaks of the ''mellifluous and honey-tongued 
Shakespeare," and then proceeds to name twelve of his 
plays and compare him favorably with the Roman drama- 
tists Seneca and Plautus. Even if this list is incomplete 
we see that already before 1598 he had written three of 
his most charming comedies, one of them " The Merchant 
of Venice," and at least one of the tragedies that ranks 
'- among his very greatest. From then until his retirement 

129 



Appendix. 

to Stratford fourteen years later, there are frequent refer- 
ences to his plays which appeared with astonishing rapid- 
ity. The dates when they were written and first acted are 
often uncertain, but before 1612 he had produced more 
than twenty dramas which together constitute the most 
marvelous body of literary work that ever came from a 
human mind. 

As an actor he did not continue to excel. If we may 
trust the sentiments of the sonnets, it is clear that he 
thoroughly disliked this part of his profession. Probably 
after 1604 he ceased to appear on the stage altogether. 
Financially it is certain that he was prosperous. We 
know, for one thing, that he owned shares in several 
London theatres, notably the Globe, where many of his 
own plays were first presented to enthusiastic London 
audiences. Then his successful appHcation to the Col- 
lege of Heralds in 1599, on behalf of his father, for a 
grant of coat-of-arms ; his purchase of several pieces of 
property in his native town ; the records of lawsuits to 
recover debts which were owed him ; numerous references 
which show us that he was looked upon as a man of means 
and standing ; his friendship wdth Ben Jonson and other 
learned men of his day, — these facts, with the traditions 
of later generations, all convince us that the author of 
^' Hamlet " and ^* Macbeth " was a successful man of 
affairs, as well as one of the most prominent and best- 
loved dramatists of his time. 

Although Shakespeare made London his home after 
1584 or 1585, it is probable that he often visited Stratford 
where his family continued to reside. An old legend states 
that he frequently put up at the Crown Inn in Oxford on 
his way to and fro. Documents exist, moreover, which 

130 




Holy Trinity Parish Church, Stratford-on-Avon 



Good frend for Iesvs sNf.E. for be are, 

TO Dice 'RE DVST ENCLOASEDKARL^. 

Blest be f man i spared -nts stones, 

AND CVRST BE HE ^ MOVES MY BONES- 



Inscription on Shakespeare's Tomb 



lVDlC!OpYLr/M,GEN!0 SoCRATEMyvKTE MaRONEM 
IeHHA 'rKGIT.PQlVLVs'MA^.REi; OlYMIVS HABET 

'Stay Passenger v/hy goes t hovby soFASTy 

READ IF HO/ CANST, WHOM ENVKMS Dl^'H HATi PLAST, 

mri i\ Tiis HONvpErg^ 6hakspeahE:N)^'R who he , 

Q/ICK NAIVRE DIDE:WHC)SE NAI€J)0TI DECK t T()r'1RE . 

Far mork.ten cosT: Sieh ait ,^ He har wr i tt, 

Lea/es living are bv r page /eg serve his wit 'f\ 



Inscription on Shakespeare's Monument, Trinity Church, 
Stratford-on-Avon . 



Shakespeare's Life. 

show that he was constantly investing money in real estate 

in his native village, to which he seems to have 

looked forward as a pleasant retreat after the I^etirement 

from Lon- 
strenuous days of actor, theatre-manager, and ^^^ j612 

playwright were over. Probably the breaking 

off of London ties was gradual ; but it is doubtful whether 

he was much in the city after 1612, the year in which 

'* Henry VIII," the last of his plays, was written. He 

now appears in the records as '* William Shakespeare, 

Gent, of Stratford-on-Avon " ; and there he lived with his 

well-won honors, respected and loved, for four years. 

In the early spring of 161 6, Shakespeare's youngest 

daughter, Judith, was married. A month later he made 

his will, and on April 25 the register of Christ -q^^^-^ •„ 

Church in Stratford shows that he was buried. Stratford, 

According to the lettering on the monument April 23, 

1616 

he died on April 23, and that date, the date of 
his birth fifty-two years before, has been generally ac- 
cepted as the day of his death. He was buried in the 
chancel of the fine old church, not far from the spot 
where he had been christened, and over the place where 
he lies may still be seen the quaint lines which tradition 
tells us he himself wrote to be inscribed above him : — 

Good Frend for Iesus Sake Forbeare, 
To DiGG THE Dust Encloased Heare : 
Blest be Y^ Man Y* Spares thes Stones, 
And Curst be he Y^ Moves My Bones. 

Whether the poet wrote these threatening words or not, 
no sexton has disturbed his remains, and the grave of 
William Shakespeare in the beautiful church by the river 
he loved has remained unopened. 



SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS AND POEMS 

One of the problems of Shakespearean scholars for 
more than a century has been to determine the exact 
D'ffi If yell's in which the various plays were written. 
of deter- For just as we have no details of the poet's life, 
mining the so are the records of his work either extremely 
dates of the ^leagre or entirely lacking. Not a single 
manuscript of anything that Shakespeare wrote 
has been preserved. The fire which burned the Globe 
theatre to the ground in 1613 may have destroyed the 
original pages of all the dramas : and yet, interesting 
and precious as they would be to us to-day, it is doubt- 
ful whether we can attribute to their loss our lack of 
knowledge as to just when each was written. We must 
remember that in Ehzabethan times plays were not con- 
sidered literature to be read. After they had served their 
purpose on the stage and passed out of popular favor, 
they were set aside and wholly neglected. As long as 
there was the slightest chance of their being in demand at 
the theatre, the author and companies of actors did their 
best to keep them out of print altogether, apparently in 
the belief that attendance at the playhouse would suffer if 
the drama in book form was in the hands of the people. 
Moreover, among the most cultivated men of the day, and 
especially among the growing body of Puritans, there was 
a strong prejudice against the whole theatrical business. 
By them, actors were held in low esteem, and plays were 
looked upon as things of light, or even questionable, 
character. The modern conception that regards the 
drama as a high and artistic form of literature had not 
been born. 

132 



Plays and Poems. 

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that dur- 
ing his own Ufetime only sixteen of Shakespeare's thirty- 
seven plays appeared in print. These editions, which 
are known to-day as the Quartos, were small, 
cheaply-made, paper-bound pamphlets usually The Quarto 
sold for a sixpence each. It is generally be- ^^ piays 
lieved that they were issued without the poet's 
consent, and probably even against his wishes. Several 
of them were undoubtedly printed from shorthand notes 
taken slyly at a performance in the theatre. Others may 
have been set up from the soiled and tattered copies of 
a needy actor who had been secretly bribed to part with 
them. The confusion and strange blunders in the text 
sho^ us that these Quartos were the careless and hasty 
work of piratical printers ; indeed, it is almost certain that 
Shakespeare himself did not revise or in any way prepare 
a single one of them for the press. 

Inexact and inadequate as are the pirated Quarto 
editions, they would probably be the only plays of Shake- 
speare known to us to-day had it not been for ^^ j.-^.^^ 
a remarkable book that appeared seven years Folio 
after his death. In 1623 two of the poet's edition of 
friends put forth in a single volume his com- ® ^ ^^^' 
plete dramatic works. These men, John Heminge and 
Henry Condell, — names which are forever linked with 
Shakespeare's, — were actors in the same company with 
him, and, with Burbage, were joint owners of the Globe 
Theatre. The great dramatist, as a token of lifelong 
friendship, in his will bequeathed to them and to Burbage 
the sum of twenty-six shillings and eight pence to buy 
rings ; and they in turn collected and edited his plays 
*' to keepe the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow 

^33 



Appendix. 

alive." It is a large volume of 901 pages in two columns 
of fine print, and on the title-page, besides a crude en- 
graving of the poet, are these words : 

Mr. William 
SHAKESPEARES 

COMEDIES, 

HISTORIES, & 

TRAGEDIES 

Published according to the True Original Copies. 

London 
Printed by Isaac laggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623. 

This is perhaps the most important volume in the whole 
range of English literature, for in it appeared for the first 
time in print twenty of Shakespeare's plays, among them 
^^The Tempest," ^'Twelfth Night," "Julius Caesar," 
" Macbeth," '' Cymbeline," and others of the dramatist's 
masterpieces. Heminge and Condell had access to stage 
copies of these plays which in another generation might 
have been lost or destroyed by fire ; so that their work, 
coming when it did, saved for us a large portion of the 
finest poetry and deepest wisdom of Shakespeare's mind. 
It is no wonder that the 156 extant copies of this notable 
book are preserved as priceless treasures ; for no other 
single volume ever did a greater service to literature than 
this Folio of 1623. 

Although Heminge and Condell must have known in 
many cases the exact years in which Shakespeare was at 
work upon his various plays, they did not consider such 



Plays and Poems. 

information of sufficient interest to include it in their 
edition. Well might we spare some of the tiresome 
eulogies, which they printed in their preface, for a page 
or two of facts that they so easily might have included. 
As it stands, however, the First Folio helps but little in 
arranging the chronology of the comedies and tragedies. 
And yet, in spite of all difficulties, by painstaking research 
scholars have come to a pretty general agreement upon 
the dates of composition of most of the plays. The evi- 
dence which they have used may be divided into two 

kinds, external and internal, — that is, evi- 

Dates of 
dence found outside of the plays, and evidence composi- 

found within the works themselves. External tion: 

evidence consists of such information as has external 

evidence 
been obtained from records of performances 

in diaries and letters ; quotations and allusions in other 
books ; entries in the register of the Stationers' Company, 
which for nearly three hundred years regulated the publi- 
cation of all books in England ; records of the Master of 
Revels at Court, and of course the dates on the title-pages 
of the Quartos themselves. A good illustration of this 
sort of evidence is the journal of a certain Dr. Simon 
Forman, in which he mentions the fact that in 1610 and 
161 1 he witnessed performances of ^'Macbeth," ^* Cym- 
beline," and '' The Winter's Tale " at the Globe. An- 
other is the celebrated passage in the '' Palladis Tamia," 
or '^ Wit's Treasury," of Francis Meres, which was pub- 
hshed in 1598 ** As Plautus and Seneca are accounted 
the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines, so 
Shakespeare among y® English is the most excellent in 
both kinds for the stage ; for Comedy, witness his Getlerne 
of Verona^ his Errors^ his Love labors lost, his Love 

^3S 



Appendix. 

labours wonne, his Midsummers night dreame, & his Mer- 
chant of Venice: for Tragedy, his Richard the 2, Richard 
the j^ Henry the 4^ King John^ Titus Andronicus^ and his 
Romeo and Juliet^ Such references as these give a defi- 
nite year, later than which the plays referred to could not 
have been written. With a starting point thus settled, it 
is often possible to work backward and fix definitely the 
date of composition. 

Internal evidence, though seldom as exact as external, 

and therefore more difficult to interpret, is much more 

abundant. It may be nothing more than a 

composi- reference in the mouth of an actor to events 

tion: or books the dates of which are known, such 

internal ^^ ^^le words in the Prologue to " Henry V '' 
evidence. . . 

that refer to the expedition of the Earl of 

Essex to Ireland in 1599. More often it deals with con- 
siderations of the metre, language, and form of the work 
itself. By studying such matters as classical allusions, 
the use of Latin words, kinds of figures of speech, puns, 
variations of verse and prose, and many other changing 
pecuharities of the poet's method, scholars have been able 
to trace the development of Shakespeare as a writer, and 
thus assign many of his plays to their probable year on no 
other evidence than their style. For instance, the date of 
^' Julius Caesar " is generally agreed to be not earlier than 
1601 from the poet's use of the word '^eternal" in the 
phrase ^^ the eternal devil." As late as 1600 Shakespeare 
was using *' infernal" in such expressions, but after that 
year he began to use *' eternal," owing probably to the 
increasing objection among Puritans of London to the 
use of profanity on the stage. Even such a simple matter 
as the number of rhyming lines in a play may help to 

136 • 



Plays and Poems. 

place it approximately. In '' Love's Labour's Lost," the 
earliest of the comedies, there are 1028 rhymes; whereas 
in ^^The Winter's Tale" and ^' The Tempest," written 
twenty years later, there are none and two respectively. 
It is therefore safe to assume that as Shakespeare's style 
developed he used rhyme less and less, so that tragedies 
with but few rhyming lines, such as " Antony and Cleo- 
patra " and ^' Coriolanus," may be assigned, if on no other 
ground, to the later years of his life. Such matters of 
structure and style are by no means always certain. They 
are delicate to handle and require sound judgment and 
long experience. Yet it is by this sort of internal evi- 
dence, rather than by external facts, that the chronology 
of the plays has been determined. 

The following table gives the result of research and 
comparison, of proof and conjecture, on the part of Shake- 
spearean scholars. There still remain, of 

course, many differences of opinion ; some of ^^^bable 

•^ , -11 r dates of the 

the dates are less certam than others ; a few pjays. 

are almost entirely the result of guesswork. 
Yet when we consider the meagre data upon which stu- 
dents have built their conclusions, their lack of agreement 
seems remarkably slight and insignificant. 

Of the thirty-seven plays in the following table, the 
sixteen which appeared in Quarto editions during the 
poet's life were *' Titus Andronicus," 1594; p, 
*' Richard II," '^Richard III," and ^* Romeo panted 
and Juliet," 1597 ; [' 1 Henry IV " and " Love's before 
Labour's Lost," 1598; '^ The Merchant of ^^^^• 
Venice," "Henry V," "Much Ado About Nothing," 
" 2 Henry IV," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," 
1600 ; " The Merry Wives of Windsor," 1602 ; " Hamlet," 



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139 



Appendix. 

1603 ; ** King Lear," 1608 ; " Troilus and Cressida/' and 
*' Pericles," 1609. In addition to these, a Quarto of 
** Othello " was printed in 1622. The other twenty plays 
were not published, so far as we know, until 1623, when 
Heminge and Condell included them in the First Folio. 

The periods shown in the table are, of course, wholly 
artificial. Shakespeare himself had no such division of 
p . - - his works in mind, and it is dangerous for us 
Shake- to-day to press very far the suggestion of 

speare's de- clearly defined compartments for the plays, 
velopment. ^j^^ development of the dramatist, like that 
of any artist, was gradual. Changes in style, in method, 
in views of life took place not in a single year, but were 
the result of slowly expanding power and growth of 
character. In that growth there w^ere no sudden breaks 
or unaccountable transformations. The mind that created 
*' Hamlet" in 1602 was the same mind that created 
*' Twelfth Night " in 1600, no matter how black the line 
that separates them into two different periods. Yet a 
glance at the divisions in the table reveals two or three 
interesting facts. 

When Shakespeare has gained a foothold in the London 
theatres he first turns his hand to old plays, touching them 

up, remodelling, and improving. This is his 
of experi- natural work as an apprentice playwright. As 
ineiit,1590- he gains confidence and strikes out for him- 

self, he experiments with all the forms of play- 
writing that then are known. Thus in ^' Love's Labour's 
Lost " we find one of the very few w^orks the plot of which 
is his own invention ; in ^^ The Comedy of Errors " and 
*' The Two Gentlemen of Verona " he imitates the Latin 
comedies of Plautus ; in '' Richard III " and '' King John " 

140 



Plays and Poems. 

he attempts historical tragedy, and in ^* Romeo and JuHet " 
he gives us tragedy, full of romance and passion, drawn 
from Italy whence so many of his stories of later years 
are to come. The four years from 1590 to 1593 are evi- 
dently years of feeling about, testing himself, and experi- 
menting. Naturally he writes with great rapidity : he is 
full of enthusiasm and the impetuous rush of youth. All 
that he does shows signs of a beginner and an unsettled 
purpose. We therefore do not expect to find highly fin- 
ished work. As a matter of fact, with the exception of 
*' Romeo and Juliet" and "Richard III," none of the 
plays of this early period are acted on the stage to-day or 
often read. 

It is now that Shakespeare writes his two long story 
poems, — "Venus and Adonis " in 1593 and " Lucrece " 

in I qq4. In them he retells classical Wends 

-^ . . The poems, 

taken chiefly from the Roman poet Ovid. 

Their elaborate and florid language reminds us of similar 
narrative poems of the period. In their spirit and style 
they resemble the early plays, but in one important respect 
they differ : they are published with their author's name on 
the title-page. Unlike the Quartos of the dramas, Shake- 
speare prepares these poems for the press. Their popu- 
larity surpasses even that of the comedies. Seven editions 
of "Venus and Adonis" are issued between 1593 and 
1602, and five of " Lucrece " between 1594 and 1616. 
Among the reading public of his day he becomes more 
widely known by them than by his work for the stage. 
He is now, in the eyes of the learned world, an author 
and creator of real literature. 

By 1594 the years of apprenticeship are over; Shake- 
speare has found where his powers lie. He is still young 

141 



Appendix. 

and ardent ; the sadder and more serious thin*gs of 
life have not yet come to him ; he sympathizes with the 
The great demands of the London populace to be amused, 
comedies, The results are the last of the histories and 
1594-1600. seven years of comedies, — the fullest, and 
we may well believe, the happiest' time of his life as a 
dramatist. His power of expression, his skill in con- 
structing a play, — above all, his keen insight into human 
nature, — develop with astonishing rapidity, until he is 
the favorite playwright of his day. In wit and enthusi- 
asm, in pure poetry and ^^ gusto," in creation of interesting 
and delightful character, the plays from ^^ A Midsummer 
Night's Dream" to *' Twelfth Night" stand unmatched. 
Not one of them has faded after three hundred years : 
they still are acted and read with profit and pleasure. 
Together they form *'the rich period of unsurpassable 
comedy." 

But youth and rollicking fun, high spirits and unbroken 
happiness, do not last. With the end of the century comes 
The great ^ turning-point in Shakespeare's life. Per- 
tragedies, haps it is personal grief and suffering ; possi- 
1601-1609. ^3iy [^ ig pQQ^ health and for the first time the 
thought that his own death may not be far away ; pos- 
sibly it is disappointment in his friends or his ambitions ; 
or it may be simply a deeper wisdom coming with maturer 
years that now begins to make him think more and more 
of the greater and more serious things of life. The pas- 
sions, the temptations, the moral struggles of mankind 
now absorb his interest. Naturally, comedy and history 
are inadequate for the expression of these deeper thoughts 
and emotions. With "Julius Caesar" begin the great 
tragedies, that '' series of spectacles of the pity and terror 

14.2 



Plays and Poems. 

of human suffering and human sin without parallel in the 
modern world." ^ Even the three comedies of these years 
are comedies only in name. Throughout them there is 
the atmosphere of suffering and sin. Their theme and 
spirit are more in keeping with " Hamlet " and ^' King 
Lear " than with the merrymaking and joyous fun of '' As 
You Like It " and '' A Midsummer Night's Dream." Thus 
every play of this period has a tragic motive, for during 
its nine years the mind and heart of the poet are con- 
cerned with the saddest and deepest things of human 
life. 

In 1609, toward the close of this period of tragedy, 
Shakespeare prints his volume of sonnets, one hundred 

and fifty-four in number. Some of them must _ 

. The sonnets, 

have been written much earlier. Their style 

and youthful spirit show that ; but besides, as early as 
1598, Francis Meres spoke of Shakespeare's " sugred Son- 
nets among his private friends." Yet many of them show 
such power, such masterful handling of profound thought, 
such noble poetic form, that they seem to come from the 
years that produced " Hamlet " and " Othello." Probably 
the poet has been writing them off and on ever since he 
came to London, and now in 1609 he puts them at last 
into book form, It is well that he does so ; for to-day 
every one who enjoys poetry reads them with delight. 
Unlike " Venus and Adonis " and " Lucrece " they do not 
fade ; they are among the most perfect sonnets in our lan- 
guage, and they contain some of the finest lines that ever 
came from Shakespeare's pen. Here are two of the most 
admired : 

1 " The Facts about Shakespeare," Neilson and Thorndike. The Mac= 
millan Company, 1915. 

H3 



Appendix. 



29. 

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 
I all alone beweep my outcast state 
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries 
And look upon myself and curse my fate, 
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, 
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, 
With what I most enjoy contented least ; 
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 
Haply I think on thee, and then my state. 
Like to the lark at break of day arising 
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate ; 
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings 
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

116. 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds 

Admit impediments. Love is not love 

Which alters when it alteration finds. 

Or bends with the remover to remove : 

O, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken ; 

It is the star to every wandering bark, 

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken; 

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come ; 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 

If this be error and upon me proved, 

I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

The storm and stress of tragedy, however, does not con- 
tinue to the end. In the last years Shakespeare turns 

144 



Plays and Poems. 

away from the bitterness and sorrow of life, and leaves 
us as his final message three romantic comedies of de- 
lightful charm. The calm and quiet humor of ^rj^g j^ter 
these plays is very different from the boisterous comedies, 
farce of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and 1610-1612. 
the buffoonery of the clowns in the earlier dramas ; but 
their beauty and sweetness and idealism make a happy 
and fitting close to the poet's work. In "Henry VTII," 
which shows brilliant flashes of his genius, and in " The 
Two Noble Kinsmen," which is not generally included 
among his plays, he writes in collaboration with John 
Fletcher, or with some other of the younger dramatists 
of these later years. He has made his fortune ; he knows 
that his work is done ; he is looking fondly toward his 
Stratford home, and so he turns over his place to other 
men. 

First, — imitating, feeling his way, experimenting, rap- 
idly and eagerly trying everything about him ; then seven 

full years of whole-souled joy of living, enthu- 

Suixinisiry. 
siasm, laughter, and fun; then deeper emo- 
tions and profound thought upon the saddest and most 
serious things of life ; then a happier time of calm reflec- 
tion and repose, followed by retirement from active work 
in London to the peaceful village home on the Avon ; 
then, after four quiet years, the end. Thus, in a way, we 
begin to understand the development of Shakespeare's 
mind and character by a study of the years in which he 
wrote his plays and poems. 



145 



SHAKESPEARE'S POPULARITY IN HIS OWN DAY 

There somehow exists a quite general feeHng that 

Shakespeare's genius was not properly appreciated in his 

own time ; that dramatists, now ranked far 

«^««^^ below him, were more popular with audiences 

speare ' ^ ^ 

widely ap- in the days of Queen Elizabeth and King 
predated in James I. Whether this notion comes from the 
... . scarcity of facts which we have concerning the 

poet's life, it is hard to say. Certainly such a 
belief must be ranked among the most unfortunate of 
popular errors. There is ample evidence to show that 
he was not only popular with uneducated London trades- 
men and apprentices who thronged the pit of the Globe, 
but in the best critical judgment of the day he was con- 
sidered the first of poets and dramatists. '' Throughout 
his lifetime," says Sidney Lee, ^'and for a generation 
afterwards, his plays drew crowds to pit, boxes, and gal- 
lery alike. It is true that he was one of a number of 
popular dramatists, many of whom had rare gifts, and all 
of whom glowed with a spark of genuine literary fire. 
But Shakespeare was the sun in the firmament : when his 
light shone, the fires of all contemporaries paled in the 
playgoer's eye."^ 

Many bits of evidence have come down to us that show 
how high a place in people's hearts the plays of Shake- 
Evidences speare held in their author's lifetime. For 
of his popu- instance, when he had been in London but ten 
larity. years he was summoned by Queen Elizabeth 

to play before her and the court at Greenwich in the 

1 Sidney Lee : " Shakespeare and the Ehzabethan Playgoer." 

146 



Popularity. 

Christmas holidays. The favor which King James showed 
his tragedies is well known. ''Hamlet" was acted 
several times in the first year of its production., both in 
London and at Oxford and Cambridge. Four editions 
were printed in eight years, — an unusual demand for 
those times. Moreover, the name of Shakespeare ap- 
pears in the works of contemporary authors more than 
that of any other dramatist, and almost invariably it is 
coupled with praise and admiration. He is the " mellif- 
luous '' and '' honey-tongued " poet. One sets him above 
Plautus and Seneca; another prefers him to Chaucer, 
Gower, and Spenser ; another declares that '' he puts them 
all down, ay, and Ben Jonson, too." In the preface of the 
first complete edition of his plays, published seven years 
after his death, the compilers, who were his fellow-actors 
and friends, wrote of him that he was one '' who as he was 
a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser 
of it. His mind and hand went together ; and what he 
thought, he uttered with that easinesse that w^ee have 
scarse received from him a blot in his papers. But it is 
not our province, who onely gather his works and give 
them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. 
And there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will finde 
enough both to draw and hold you ; for his wit can no 
more lie hid than it could be lost. Reade him, therefore ; 
and againe and againe ; and if then you doe not like him, 
surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand 

^™-" BenJon- 

A part of the introductory material of this son's praise 
First FoHo edition of the plays consists of o^ Shake- 
poems of praise contributed by the poet's 
admirers. Among the most famous are the noble lines 

H7 



Appendix. 

of Ben Jonson, scholar, poet, and dramatist. Here are 
the words of a thoughtful critic who knew the theatre from 
the stage and from the audience, — a man who had been 
associated with Shakespeare throughout hi^ London career 
and who understood, better than any other, his place in the 
hearts of English people. 



TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM 
SHAKESPEARE AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT US 

To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name, 
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame ; 
While I confess thy writings to be such, 
As neither Man nor Muse can praise too much. 



Soul of the age ! 
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage ! 
My Shakespeare, rise ! I will not lodge thee by 
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 
A little further to make thee a room : 
Thou art a monument without a tomb, 
And art alive still while thy book doth live, 
And we have wits to read, and praise to give. 
That I not mix thee so my brain excuses, — 
I mean wath great, but disproportioned Muses ; 
For if I thought my judgment were of years, 
I should commit thee surely with thy peers. 
And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine. 
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line. 
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek 
From thence to honour thee I would not seek 

148 



Popularity. 



For names, but call forth thund'ring ^schylus, 
Euripides and Sophocles to us, 
Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead. 
To life again to hear thy buskin tread, 
And shake a stage ; or when thy socks were on, 
Leave thee alone for a comparison 
Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome 
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come. 
Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show, 
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. 
He was not of an age, but for all time ! 
And all the Muses still w^ere in their prime, 
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm 
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm ! 
Nature herself was proud of his designs, 
And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines. 
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit, 
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit. 
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes, 
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please ; 
But antiquated and deserted lie. 
As they were not of Nature's family. 
Yet must I not give Nature all ; thy Art, 
My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part. 
For though the poet's matter nature be, 
His art doth give the fashion ; and that he 
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat 
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat 
Upon the Muses' anvil, turn the same, 
And himself with it, that he thinks to frame ; 
Or for the laurel he may gain to scorn ; 
For a good poet's made, as well as born. 
149 



Appendix. 

And such wert thou ! Look how the father's face 

Lives in his issue, even so the race 

Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines 

In his well turned and true filed lines, 

In each of which he seems to shake a lance, 

As brandished at the eyes of ignorance. 

Sweet Swan of Avon ! what a sight it were 

To see thee in our waters yet appear, 

And make those flights upon the banks of Thames, 

That so did take Eliza and our James ! 

But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere 

Advanced, and made a constellation there I 

Shine forth, thou Star of Poets, and with rage 

Or influence chide or cheer the drooping stage, 

Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourned like 

night. 
And despairs day but for thy volume's light. 

Even without these lines and numerous other bits of 
unqualified praise from contemporary pens, the fact that 
the plays were financially successful, and that from them 
their author made for those times a small fortune, shows 
us that Shakespeare was truly appreciated by all sorts of 
people in his own day. Before his death he had taken 
the place which he now holds, — that of the foremost of 
English poets and dramatists. 



[50 



SHAKESPEARE'S FAME SINCE HIS DEATH 

During the three hundred years since Shakespeare's 
death the popularity of his plays on the stage has natu- 
rally varied somewhat with the changing taste «, , 
of the times. Toward the end of his life a speareon 
decline in the drama had begun, so that the the stage 
generation which followed was more pleased ^"^^® 1616. 
by the coarse blood-and-thunder tragedies of Webster, 
Ford, and Massinger than by the more profound and more 
artistic work of Shakespeare. Certain ones of the plays 
that very early ceased to be popular on the stage have 
never since come into favor. Most of the histories, two 
or three of the earUest comedies, " All's Well That Ends 
Well," '^ Measure for Measure," ''Pericles," ''Timon of 
Athens," "Troilus and Cressida," and " Coriolanus " have 
seldom been acted since they were first produced. The 
subjects of some of these are not suitable to present in a 
modern theatre ; in others, as in the histories, there is not 
enough action or dialogue to satisfy an audience to-day. 
Yet these make but a small portion of the poet's work. 
With the exception of the twenty years, 1 640-1 660, when 
all theatres in England were closed under the censorship 
of Cromwell's Puritan Government, there never has been 
an age that has not had the opportunity to see its fore- 
most actors in the greater comedies and tragedies that 
came from Shakespeare's pen. 

During the reign of Charles II, in the period known as 
the Restoration, and for the forty years that followed, 
literary taste was at its lowest mark. Naturally Shake- 
speare suffered at a time when the coarse and artificial 

If 



Appendix. 

plays of Wycherley, Vanbrugh, and Farquahar fascinated 
both the nobility and the common people of London. 
His dramas, to be sure, were still presented 
f ^Shak^^ ^^ ^^^ stage, but they were generally worked 
speare over, or even rewritten, to suit the strange 

during the fancies of the age. With music, new scenes, 

Restora- ^^^ ^^^ characters they were mutilated almost 
tion, 1660- , , . , J . ■ . 

1740. beyond recognition. From one point of view 

they were spoiled ; yet it is significant that 
even to the theatre-goers of 1680 they still had enough 
vitality and imaginative power to be made the foundation 
of popular and successful entertainments. Dryden, the 
chief poet of the time, admired the genius of their author, 
and wrote prefaces for them in their renovated form. 
Betterton, the greatest actor of the age, was regarded at his 
best as the Prince in " Hamlet," a part which he played on 
many occasions, and always to enthusiastic houses. Sam- 
uel Pepys, who kept a remarkable diary between 1661 and 
1669, records in his journal three hundred and fifty-one 
visits to the London theatres during these eight years. 
On forty-one of these occasions he saw plays by Shake- 
speare, or plays based upon them. Though Pepys was 
entirely unable to appreciate the poetry and all the finer 
qualities of what he heard, — he speaks in especially 
slighting terms of the comedies, — still it is interesting 
to know that he had even the opportunity, in eight 
short years, to witness fourteen different works of the 
great Elizabethan dramatist. This, too, in England's 
darkest age of literary appreciation ! 

The middle of the eighteenth century saw a new and 
genuine enthusiasm for Shakespeare. Scholars began to 
study his life and his work. New editions were published, 

152 



Fame. 

with notes and comment. The plays were revived on the 
stage in their original and true form. A great interest in 
all that he had said and thought was born, — 
an mterest which grew through the years that actors in 
followed, and still is growing. The foremost Shake- 
actors of all times have turned to him for their speare's 

plays, 
most ambitious work, and the crowning of 

their professional achievement. Perhaps the greatest of 
them all was David Garrick. " From his first triumph in 
Richard III, in 1741, to his farewell performance of Lear in 
1776, he won a series of signal successes in both tragedy 
and comedy, in Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Richard III, 
Falconbridge, Romeo, Hotspur, lago, Leontes, Posthu- 
mus, Benedick, and Antony. Garrick's services to Shake- 
speare extended beyond the parts which he impersonated. 
He revived many plays, and though he garbled the texts 
freely, yet in comparison with earlier practice he really 
had some right to boast that he had restored the text of 
Shakespeare to the stage. Further, his example led to an 
increased popularity of Shakespeare in the theatre and 
afforded new incentives for other actors. Mrs. Clive, 
Mrs. Gibber, and Mrs. Pritchard were among the women 
who acted with Garrick. Macklin, by his revival of Shy- 
lock as a tragic character, Henderson, by his impersona- 
tion of Falstaff, and John Palmer in secondary characters, 
as lago, Mercutio, Touchstone, and Sir Tobey, were his 
contemporaries most famous in their day."^ After Gar- 
rick came Mrs. Kemble, Edmund Kean, Mrs. Siddons, 
Macready, and Booth, — names remembered to-day chiefly 
in connection with the Shakespearean roles which they 
nobly played. 

1 Neilson and Thorndike : " The Facts about Shakespeare," page 174. 

153 



Appendix. 

Conditions have not changed in our own time. The 
greatest actors of our own generation, Sir Henry Irving, 
Ellen Terry, Helena Modjeska, Ada Rehan, 
speare on Forbes Robertson, Beerbohm Tree, Julia Mar- 
tlie stage lowe, and Edward Sothern, have been seen at 
to-day. ^j^^jj. ^^^^ jj^ ^Yie comedies and tragedies of 

Shakespeare. Even in the twentieth century, with musi- 
cal comedies, vaudeville, and moving-pictures to contend 
with, his plays are presented in greater number than are 
the plays of any other man who has ever lived. Nor are 
they revived merely for the sake of sentiment. They 
draw large audiences of all sorts of people. They still 
pay as purely business undertakings. *' The Merchant 
of Venice," ^^ Julius Caesar," *^ Hamlet," ^^ Macbeth," 
^^ Twelfth Night," ''As You Like It," ''A Midsummer 
Night's Dream," '' Romeo and Juliet," '' The Taming of 
the Shrew," and ''The Merry Wives of Windsor" still 
earn money for actors and theatre-managers as they did 
three centuries ago. What is far more important, they 
still give pleasure and amusement, they still stir laughter 
and tears and awaken the imagination as they did at the 
Globe in London in the lifetime of their creator. 

Shakespeare, we know, wrote his plays to be acted : to 
him they were distinctly stage productions to be seen and 
g, . heard at the theatre. So little did he think of 

speare's their being read that he apparently had no 
plays read, concern about them in their book form. To- 
^\^d^^^^ day, on the contrary, though they still are 
presented on the stage, it is in school and 
college classrooms, in libraries, and in homes that they 
are chiefly known. New editions are constantly appear- 
ing. Plays and novels that were popular twenty years 

1 54 



Fame. 

ago are out of print and difficult to find ; the works of 
Shakespeare, in a dozen different forms, are in every 
book-store of England and America. Quite apart from 
their acting qualities, they have come to be regarded as 
the highest type of literature in our language. 

This is not the place to give an extensive criticism of 
Shakespeare's works, nor a full analysis of the reasons w^hy 
the world regards them so highly apart from "wiiyShake- 
their value as stage performances. It will be speare 
enough to remind the student that in nothing li^^s. 
that has ever been written do we find a clearer or more 
faithful portrayal of all the varying moods and emotions 
of human nature. The characters which Shakespeare has 
created hve in our minds both as individuals and as types 
of the ideal. He strips away the petty things from life 
and shows us the eternal elements underneath. He has 
that wonderful and rare quality called universality ; for he 
expresses the thoughts and feelings of us all, — the things 
which we know to be great and true. Somewhere in his 
plays everyone finds himself, and the discovery, though he 
may not realize it at the time, makes a lasting impression. 
For Shakespeare is the supreme teacher : he suggests, 
but does not preach, the art of living. Other men have 
done all this. But Shakespeare has left us his wisdom 
and his interpretation of life in a more beautiful and 
stately diction, in phrasing more apt and pleasing, in 
poetry of greater imaginative power, than has ever come 
from the mind of man. 

More books have been written about Shakespeare than 
about any other person who ever lived.^ This is not surpris- 

1 For titles of those books on Shakespeare most interesting to students 
and teachers, see page 182. 

155 



Appendix. 

ing when we consider that the interest in his plays, which 
has existed now for three centuries, is world-wide, and when 
we remember that the language in which he wrote often 
needs explanation and comment to make it perfectly clear 
to the average reader to-day. Almost every English and 
American poet of note has left a tribute to the greatest 
of all poets. Perhaps the best known are Milton's famous 
Epitaph, printed on page vii of this volume, and Ben Jon- 
son's lines contributed to the First Folio in 1623, which 
are given on page 148. Here are a few other short poems, 
or selections from poems, which give honor and praise to 
those characteristics that have made Shakespeare the in- 
spiration and the guiding-star of poets since Elizabethan 
times. 

James Thomson 

For lofty sense, 
Creative fancy, and inspection keen 
Through the deep windings of the human heart. 
Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast ? 

Summer — 1727. 

William Collins 

The temper of our isle, though cold, is clear ; 
And such our genius, noble though severe. 
Our Shakespeare scorn'd the trifling rules of art. 
But knew to conquer and surprise the heart ! 
In magic chains the captive thought to bind. 
And fathom all the depths of human kind ! 

On our Late Taste in Music — 1747. 

156 



Fame. 



Thomas Gray 



Far from the sun and summer gale 
In thy green lap was Nature's Darling laid, 
What time, where lucid Avon stray'd, 

To him the mighty mother did unveil 
Her awful face : the dauntless child 
Stretch'd forth his little arms and smiled. 
" This pencil take (she said), whose colours clear 
Richly paint the vernal year : 
Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy ! 
This can unlock the gates of joy ; 
Of horror that, and thrilling fears. 
Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." 

The Progress of Poesy — 1757. 

Henry Alford 

We stood upon the tomb of him whose praise, 

Time, nor oblivious thrift, nor envy chill. 
Nor war, nor ocean with her severing space. 

Shall hinder from the peopled world to fill ; 
And thus, in fulness of our heart, we cried : 

God's works are wonderful — the circling sky, 
The rivers that wdth noiseless footing glide, 

Man's firm-built strength, and woman's liquid eye ; 
But the high spirit that sleepeth here below, 

More than all beautiful and stately things, 
Glory to God the mighty Maker brings ; 

To whom alone ^twas given the bounds to know 
Of human action, and the secret springs 

Whence the deep streams of joy and sorrow flow. 

Sir atford'Mpon- Avon — 1837 

157 



Appendix. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 

There Shakespeare, on whose forehead climb 
The crowns o' the world : O eyes sublime 
With tears and laughter for all time ! 

A Visio n of Poets — 1 844 

Leigh Hunt 

. . . Humanity's divinest son, 
That sprightliest, gravest, wisest, kindest one . . . 

Thoughts of the Avon — 1S44. 

Robert Browning 

— I DECLARE our Poct, him 
Whose insight makes all others dim : 
A thousand Poets pried at life. 
And only one amid the strife 
Rose to be Shakespeare. 

Christmas Eve and Easter Day — 1850. 

Hartley Coleridge 

Great poet, 'twas thy art 
To know thyself, and in thyself to be 
Whatever love, hate, ambition, destiny. 
Or the firm, fatal purpose of the heart. 
Can make of Man. Yet thou wert still the same. 
Serene of thought, unhurt by thy own flame. 

To Shakespeare — i^S^' 

158 



Fame. 



William Wetmore Story 



. . . Shakespeare, whose strong soul could climb 
Steeps of sheer terror, sound the ocean grand 
Of Passion's deeps, or over Fancy's strand 
Trip with his fairies, keeping step and time. 
His, too, the power to laugh out full and clear^ 
With unembittered joyance, and to move 
Along the silent, shadowy paths of love 
As tenderly as Dante, whose austere, 
Stern spirit through the worlds below, above, 
Unsmiling strode, to tell their tidings here. 

The Mighty Makers, II— 1851. 

Matthew Arnold 

Others abide our question. Thou art free. 
We ask and ask — thou smilest and art still, 
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill, 
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty, 
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea, 
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place, 
Spares but the cloudy border of his base 
To the foil'd searching of mortality ; 

And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know, 
Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure 
Didst tread on earth unguess'd at. — Better so ! 

All pains the immortal spirit must endure. 

All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow, 

Find their sole speech in that victorious brow. 

Shakespeare — 1867, 

159 



THE THEATRE OF SHAKESPEARE'S DAY 

When Shakespeare left Stratford and went to London, 
theatres were in their infancy. The first one had been 
Popularity built in 1576, when he was a lad of twelve, 
of the first and on his arrival in the city there were but 
theatres. three small wooden structures devoted to the 
production of plays. Enthusiasm for the drama, however, 
was aglow. With the sanction of Queen Elizabeth, her- 
self a lover of pageants and revels, and under the patron- 
age of the powerful Earls of Leicester, Southampton, and 
Rutland, the popular demand for this form of amusement 
grew with amazing rapidity. Theatres shot up one after 
another until in 1633 there were at least nineteen in Lon- 
don, *^ a number," says Brandes, *^ which no modern town of 
300,000 inhabitants can equal." Poets, courtiers, scholars, 
— everyone who could write, - — turned to the making of 
plays. The art which Shakespeare found in its crude and 
humble beginnings, in the short period of his active life, 
that is, between 1585 and 16 10, developed through every 
stage to its highest form, so that never in the three hun- 
dred years that have since elapsed has the drama of the 
Elizabethan days been surpassed. In this development 
Shakespeare was ** a pioneer — almost the creator or first 
designer — as well as the practised workman in unmatched 
perfection."^ 

Though the first theatre in England was not erected 
until Shakespeare was twelve years old, long before his 
time there had been many different kinds of simple plays. 
The instinct to act out a story had existed from the child- 

1 Sidney Lee: "Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Playgoer." 
160 



The Theatre. 

hood of the race. With the earliest telling of legends 
and folktales by minstrels and bards there had often been 
occasion for dramatic recital, dialogue, and pj^yg 
action. For centuries, too, there had been the before 
solemn mysteries and quaint old moralities, t^^e^tres 
Mummers and bands of strolling players had 
wandered over Europe throughout the Middle Ages. 
The drama, therefore, which flowered in the last half of 
the sixteenth century, was not a new and sudden birth, but 
rather came as the natural outgrowth of centuries of crude 
and humble plays. In the beginning these had been 
closely connected with the service of the church ; in fact, 
they had been a means of religious instruction rather than 
a form of amusement. To understand this more clearly, 
let us compare their origin with that of the Greek drama 
in earlier ages still. 

Many, many centuries before Shakespeare was born, — 
five or six hundred years B.C., — the God Dionysus, or 
Bacchus, was worshipped in Greece at country festivals 
by boisterous groups of men who chanted and marched 
and exchanged bantering jests as they danced about the 
altar and acted out legends connected with the god. 
These actors, who represented the sat3^r followers of Di- 
onysus, generally were clad in goatskins, whence we have 
our word '* tragedy," from the Greek tragos, a rjij^^ ^^y\. 
goat, and tragodia, a goat-song. From these gious origin 
simple beginnings sprang the drama of Greece, of the Greek 
which produced ^schylus, Sophocles, and 
Euripides. The religious element persisted in ancient 
times much longer than in England, for the plays of the 
Greek dramatists who correspond to Shakespeare were 
still a form of worship. In the center of the orchestra 

i6i 



Appendix. 

stood the altar of Dionysus, about which the chorus moved 
in solemn procession, chanting and reciting ; before the 
performance began there were sacrifices to the god, and the 
plays were given in the spring on the days of the Diony- 
sian festival. Greek tragedy was therefore not merely an 
entertainment, but a serious religious function. Begin- 
ning as a popular form of Nature worship, it finally be-, 
came a means of expression for the most serious and finest 
of Greek thought and wisdom. As it spread from Athens 
to other towns, little by little it ceased to be a religious 
affair, until at last, as it gradually lost its vitality and 
splendor, its relation to the worship of Dionysus entirely 
disappeared. In similar fashion, comedy (from comos, a 
band of revellers, and ode^ a song) developed from the 
ruder, more rustic elements in the worship of the same 
god, though here, as we might expect, the religious ele- ■ 
ment did not persist as long as it did in its greater and 
more serious cousin, tragedy. 

More than eighteen hundred years later, in England, we 
find the beginnings of the drama again closely related to 
Enfflish worship. At a time when few of the common 
drama be- people could read, the priests in the churches 
gins in the found no method of teaching their congre- 
gations the stories of the Bible so effective as 
the use of objects and pictures which appealed to the eye. 
The effectiveness of their teaching was enormously in- 
creased when they added movement, action, and talk to 
their picture lessons. Indeed, it was but a step from the 
impressive and beautiful service of the Mass to a dramatic 
presentation, in simple form, of the most solemn scenes 
in religious history. '' In this manner the people not only 
heard the story of the Adoration of the Magi and of the 

162 



The Theatre. 

Marriage in Cana, but saw the story in tableau. In 
course of time the persons in these tableaux spoke and 
moved, and then it was but a logical step to the repre- 
sentation dramatically, by the priests before the altar, of 
the striking or significant events in the life of Christ."^ 

Thus in the services of the church at Christmas, Good 
Friday, and Easter were laid the foundations of our 
modern drama. These earliest performances, rj^^ ^^^_ 
which were called Mysteries, dealt wholly with teries and 
Bible stories, from the Creation to the Day Miiracle 
of Judgment, and with the life of Christ ; but 
as they became more and more popular with the masses, 
a broader field of subjects was sought, and lives of saints 
were used for dramatic material in the Miracle Plays of 
a century later. Not only were the priests the authors of 
both these simple forms of drama, but with the choir boys 
they were also the actors. For many years these plays 
were given on Holy Days and Saints' Days, either at the 
altar in the church itself, or in the enclosure just outside 
its walls. Their object continued to be largely religious 
instruction. In the Miracle plays, however, there were 
opportunities for a good deal of grotesque amusement. 
Incidents in the lives of the saints were not always serious 
or spiritual. The Devil gradually became more or less of 
a comic character. As the performances grew less solemn 
and awe-inspiring, the attitude of the people toward them 
changed. No longer did they attend them to worship, 
but rather to see a show and be amused. Gradually, 
therefore, they became separated from the service of the 
church, until finally they were banished once for all from 
the sacred walls, and but a few years after they had been 

1 W. H. Mabie : " William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man." 

163 



Appendix. 

given at the altar they were being denounced by the 
priests as base and wicked things. Indeed, the feeling 
that pla)^s are devices and temptations of Satan, which 
still exists, may be traced to the time, four centuries ago, 
when the drama lost favor with the Church. 

The Mysteries and Miracle Plays did not decline in 
popularity when they were abandoned by the various re- 
Trade- ligious orders. On the contrary, with the 
Guilds and greater freedom and larger opportunity which 
the plays. separation from the church gave them, they 
increased rapidly in the people's favor. They were now 
taken up by the trade-guilds which, by the fifteenth cen- 
tury, developed elaborate and systematic methods of pre- 
senting them. Often different groups of tradesmen, such 
as the weavers' guild or the goldsmiths' guild, would unite, 
each band or '' company " presenting an act or scene in the 
play to be undertaken. Huge, two-story covered wagons, 
somewhat like our large rrioving-vans to-day, took the 
place of stage and property-rooms. The actors dressed 
in the enclosed part of the vehicle, and then mounted a 
ladder or some rough stairs to the top story, or roof, where 
they performed their parts. Announced by heralds, — 
sometimes even by proclamation of the Mayor, — these 
pageants, as they were called, were drawn through the 
town on holidays and occasions of special festival. In 
the course of its progress the moving-stage would stop 
several times, — at the corners of the principal streets, in 
a public square, often at the doors of a church or cathe- 
dral. Then the crowd which had been following in its 
wake gathered about it to witness again the drama of 
Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, of Noah, the 
flood and the ark, of Pilate and Herod, or one of the 

164 



The Theatre. 

numberless other stories with which they had been famil- 
iar from childhood. 

Miracle Plays and Mysteries were followed by the 
Moralities in which abstract qualities such as Pleasure, 
Slander, Rage, Perseverance, and the Seven 
Deadly Sins took the place of characters from ^^^^ 
the Bible. This was a long stride forward. 
Now the field of subjects was greatly enlarged. Origi- 
nality both in writing plays and in producing them was 
now first in demand. Opportunity had come at last for 
the creation of character, and for the use of everyday life 
on the stage. " Everyman," which has often been acted in 
our time, is a good example of what the Moralities at their 
best could be. Like the Miracle plays they were gener- 
ally given by the guilds in marketplaces, enclosures 
of castles, and inn-yards where people could watch them 
from windows and balconies, as well as from the ground 
about the portable stage. Heavy, crude, and dull as these 
old plays now seem to us, they were intensely enjoyed by 
the populace of those far-away simpler times. From the 
eagerness and excitement with which they awaited their 
coming to town, or travelled long distances to see them, 
it is evident that a love of acting was inborn in the hearts 
of the people which sooner or later would develop a more 
finished and artistic drama. 

None of the performers in the Mysteries or Miracle 
Plays had been professional actors ; but now with the 
Moralities came the opportunity for men to Acting as a 
make a business of acting. As religious sub- profession; 
jects gradually disappeared from the pageant companies 
stage, actors by profession came into exist- 
ence. Wandering minstrels and story-tellers, mummers 

165 



Appendix. 

and strolling players, began to join together in troops for 
protection and companionship. '' From the days of 
Henry VI onwards, members of the nobility began to en- 
tertain these companies of actors, and Henry VII and 
Henry VIII had their own private comedians. A ' Mas- 
ter of the Revels ^ was appointed to superintend musical 
and dramatic entertainments at court." A little later a 
statute of Parliament declared that " all actors who were not 
attached to the service of a nobleman should be treated as 
rogues and vagabonds, or in other words, might be whipped 
out of any town in which they appeared. This decree, 
of course, compelled all actors to enter the service of one 
great man or other, and we see that the aristocracy felt 
bound to protect their art. A large number of the first 
men in the kingdom, during Elizabeth's reign, had each 
his company of actors. The player received from the 
nobleman, whose * servant ' he was, a cloak bearing the 
arms of the family. On the other hand, he received no 
salary, but was simply paid for each performance given 
before his patron. We must thus conceive' Shakespeare 
as bearing on his cloak the arms of Leicester, and after- 
wards of the Lord Chamberlain, until about his fortieth 
year. From 1604 onwards, when the company was pro- 
moted by James I to be His Majesty's Servants, it was 
the Royal arms that he wore."^ 

For many years these companies of professional actors 
had no regular buildings in which to give their perform- 
The first ances. Their plays were presented before 
theatres in their noble patrons in the great halls of their 
London. castles, and occasionally at court for the 

amusement of the king or queen. As late as Shake- 
1 Georg Brandes : " William Shakespeare," page 99. 

166 



The Theatre. 

speare's boyhood they were witnessed by the common 
people in the yards of taverns, in the open streets, or 
on village greens. If the actors played in London, either 
in the guild-halls or out of doors, they first had to obtain 
a license -from the Lord Mayor for each performance, and 
then they were obliged to surrender half of their receipts 
to the city treasury. These trying conditions, with the 
growing popularity of the drama among all classes, finally 
led in 1576 to the erection of the first building for acting 
purposes. This was called the Theatre. The following 
year the Curtain was erected ; in 1587, the Rose ; in 1594, 
the Swan; and in 1599, ^^^ Globe. Once begun they 
shot up with wonderful rapidity. When Shakespeare 
arrived in the city there were but three playhouses ; in 
161 1, when he retired to Stratford, there were probably 
ten or twelve. 

In one sense London even then did not possess a 
theatre, for the early playhouses were not in the city at 
all. They were built on a tract of open land ^^ -^^^^ 
across the Thames, at the further end of Lon- tion of 
don Bridge, outside the walls and well beyond *^® ^^st 
the jurisdiction of the Mayor. The capital ®^^^®s. 
was then a town of small dimensions, barely a mile square, 
with a population of nearly 200,000 crowded together in 
houses which were constructed largely of wood. The 
streets were narrow, crooked, and muddy. Adequate 
means of fighting fire and disease did not exist. The 
Corporation was therefore strongly opposed to the erection 
of dangerous and inflammable structures upon the few 
vacant spaces within the walls. Moreover, among the 
Puritans, who were coming to be a large and influential 
body, opposition to the drama was growing more marked 

167 



Appendix. 

and open ; so that the companies of actors were obhged to 
put up their theatres well beyond the reach of the city's laws. 
Let us now pay a visit to the Globe, to us the most in- 
teresting of all the theatres, for it is here that Shake- 
The Globe speare's company acts, and here many of his 
Theatre: P^^ys are first seen on the stage. We cross 
its exter- the Thames by London Bridge with its lines of 

na ap- crowded booths and shops and thronp:s of 

pearance. . ... 

busthng tradesmen ; or if it is fine weather we 

take a small boat and are rowed over the river to the 

southern shores. Here on the Bankside, in the part of 

London now called Southwark, beyond the end of the 

bridge, and in the open fields near the Bear Garden, 

stands a roundish, three-story wooden building, so high 

for its size that it looks more like a clumsy, squatty tower 

than a theatre. As we draw nearer we see that it is not 

exactly round after all, but is somewhat hexagonal in 

shape. The walls seem to slant a little inward, giving it 

the appearance of a huge thimble, or cocked hat, with six 

flattened sides instead of a circular surface. There are 

but few small windows and two low shabby entrances. 

The whole structure is so dingy and unattractive that we 

stand before it in wonder. Can this be the place where 

'^ Hamlet," ''The Merchant of Venice," and " JuHus 

Caesar " are put on the stage 1 

Our amazement on stepping inside is even greater. 

The first thing that astonishes us is the blue sky over our 

The Globe heads. The building has no roof except a 

Theatre: narrow strip around the edge and a covering 

the in- ^t the rear over the back part of the stage. 

The front of the stage and the whole center of 

the theatre is open to the air. Now we see how the in- 

l68 



The Theatre. 

terior is lighted, though with the sunshine must often come 
rain and sleet and London fog. Looking up and out at 
the clouds floating by, we notice that a flag is flying from 
a short pole on the roof over the stage. This is most im- 
portant, for it is announcing to the city across the river 
that this afternoon there is to be a play. It is bill-board, 
newspaper notice, and advertisement in one : and we may 
imagine the eagerness with which it is looked for among 
the theatre-loving populace of these later Elizabethan 
years. When the performance begins the flag will be 
lowered to proclaim to all that ^' the play is on.'' 

Where, now, shall we sit? Before us on the ground 
level is a large open space, which corresponds to the 

orchestra circle on the floor of a modern play- „ ,. 

^ -^ Seating ar- 

house. But here there is only the flat bare rangements 

earth, trodden down hard, with rushes and in the 

straw scattered over it. There is not a sim *^®^t^® • 

the pit. 
of a seat! This is the ''yard," or, as it is 

sometimes called, " the pit," where, by paying a penny or 
two, London apprentices, sailors, laborers, and the mixed 
crowd from the streets may stand jostling together. Some 
of the more enterprising ones may possibly sit on boxes 
and stools which they bring into the building with them. 
Among these " groundlings " there will surely be bustling 
confusion, noisy wrangling, and plenty of danger from 
pickpockets ; so we look about us to find a more comfort- 
able place from w^hich to watch the performance. 

On three sides of us, and extending well around the 
stage, are three tiers of narrow balconies. In tj^Q 
some places these are divided into compart- balconies 
ments, or boxes. The prices here are higher, ^^^ boxes, 
varying from a few pennies to half a crown, according to 

169 



Appendix. 

the location. By putting our money into a box held out to 
us, — there are no tickets, — we are allowed to climb the 
crooked wooden stairs to one of these compartments. 
Here we find rough benches and chairs, and above all a 
little seclusion from the throng of men and boys below. 
Along the edge of the stage we observe that there are 
stools, but these places, elevated and facing the audience, 
seem rather conspicuous, and besides the prices are high. 
They will be taken by the young gallants and men of 
fashion of London, in brave and brilliant clothes, with 
light swords at their belts, wide ruffled collars about their 
necks, and gay plunies in their hats. It will be amusing 
to see them show off their fine apparel, and display their 
wit at the expense of the groundlings in the pit, and even 
of the actors themselves. We are safer, however, and 
much more comfortable here in the balcony among the 
more sober, quiet gentlemen of London, who with me- 
chanics, tradesmen, nobles, and shop-keepers have come 
to see the play. 

The moment we entered the theatre we were impressed 
by the size of the stage. Looking down upon it from the 
balcony, it seems even larger and very near us. 
If it is like the stage of the Fortune it is square, 
as shown in the illustration facing page i68. Here in 
the Globe it is probably narrower at the front than at 
the back, tapering from the rear wall almost to a point. 
Whatever its shape, it is only a roughly-built, high platform, 
open on three sides, and extending halfway into the 
^'yard." Though a low railing runs about its edge, there 
are no footlights, — all performances are in the afternoon 
by the light of day which streams down through the open 
top, — and strangest of all there is no curtain. At each 

170 



The Theatre. 

side of the rear we can see a door that leads to the *' tir- 
ing-rooms/' where the actors dress, and from which they 
make their entrances. These are the "green-rooms " and 
wings of our theatre to-day. Between the doors is a cur- 
tain that now before the play begins is drawn together. 
Later when it is pulled aside, — not upward as cur- 
tains usually are now^, — we shall see a shallow recess or 
alcove which serves as a secondary, or inner stage. Over 
this extends a narrow balcony covered by a roof which is 
supported at the front corners by two columns that stand 
well out from the wall. Still higher up, over the inner 
stage, is a sort of tow^er, sometimes called the " hut," and 
from a pole on this the flag is flying which summons the 
London populace from across the Thames. Rushes are 
strewn over the floor ; there are no drops or wdngs or 
walls of painted scenery. In its simplicity and bareness 
it reminds us of the rude stage of the strolling players. 
Indeed, the whole interior of the building seems to be but 
an adaptation of the tavern-yard and village-green. 

How, we wonder, can a play like " Julius Caesar " or 
"The Merchant of yenice " be staged on such a crude 
affair as this ! What are the various parts of 

it for ? Practically all actiner is done, w^e shall ^® ° ^ ® 

^ ° mam stage, 

see, on the front of the platform well out 

among the crowd in the pit, with the audience on three 
sides of the performers. All out-of-door scenes will be 
acted here, from a conversation in the streets of Venice or 
a dialogue in a garden, to a battle, a procession, or a 
banquet in the Forest of Arden. Here, too, with but the 
slightest alteration, or even with no change at all, interior 
scenes will be presented. With the " groundlings " 
crowded close up to its edges, and with young gallants 

171 



Appendix. 

sitting on its sides, this outer stage comes close to the 
people. On it will be all the main action of the drama : 
the various arrangements at the rear are for supplemen- 
tary purposes and certain important effects. 

The inner stage, or alcove beyond the curtain, is used 
in many ways. It may serve for any room somewhat 

removed from the scene of action, such as a 
"Uses of the 4. j t^. ^^ • j ^ 

inner stage Passage-way or a study. It often is made to 

represent a cave, a shop, or a prison. Here 
Othello, in a frenzy of jealous passion, strangles Desde- 
mona as she lies in bed ; here probably the ghost of Cae- 
sar appears to Brutus in his tent on the plains of Philippi ; 
here stand the three fateful caskets in the mansion at Bel- 
mont, as we see by Portia's words, 

" Go, draw aside the curtains^ and discover 
The several caskets to this noble Prince." 

Tableaux and scenes within scenes, such as the short 
play in '' Hamlet " by which the prince " catches the con- 
science of the king," are acted in this recess. But the 
most important use is to give the effect of a change of 
scene. By drawing apart and closing the curtain, with a 
few simple changes of properties in this inner compart- 
ment, a different background is possible. By such a slight 
variation of setting at the rear, the platform in the pit is 
transformed, by the quick imagination of the spectators, 
from a field or a street to a castle hall or a wood. Thus, 
the whole stage becomes the Forest of Arden by the use of 
a little greenery in the distance. Similarly, a few trees and 
shrubs at the rear of the inner stage, when the curtain is 
thrown aside, will change the setting from the court-room 
in the fourth act of '' The Merchant of Venice," to the 

172 



The Theatre. 

scene in the garden at Belmont which immediately 
follows. 

The balcony over the inner stage serves an important 
purpose, too. With the windows, which are often just 
over the doors leading to the tiring-rooms, it 

. US6S of tll6 

gives the eiiect of an upper story m a house, balcony 
of walls in a castle, a tower, or any elevated over the 
position. This is the place, of course, where stage. 
Juliet comes to greet Romeo who is in the garden below. 
In " Julius Caesar " when Cassius says, 

*^ Go Pindarus, get higher on that hill; 

And tell me what thou notest about the field," 

the soldier undoubtedly climbs to the balcony, for a mo- 
ment later, looking abroad over the field of battle, he re- 
ports to Cassius what he sees from his elevation. Here 
Jessica appears when Lorenzo calls under Shylock's win- 
dows, " Ho ! who's within ? " and on this balcony she is 
standing when she throws down to her lover a box of her 
father's jewels. '' Here, catch this casket ; it is worth the 
pains," she says, and retires into the house, appearing 
below a moment later to run away with Lorenzo and his 
masquerading companions. 

Besides these simple devices, if we look closely enough 
we shall see a trap-door, or perhaps two, in the platform. 
These are for the entrance of apparitions and demons. 
They correspond, in a way, to the balcony by 
giving the effect of a place lower than the stage ^^^^^33 
level. Thus in the first scene of " The Tem- 
pest," which takes place in a storm at sea, the notion 
of a ship may be suggested to the audience by sailors 



Appendix. 

entering from the trap-door, as they might come up a 
hatchway to a deck. If it is a play with gods and 
goddesses and spirits, we may be startled to see them 
appear and disappear through the air. Evidently there 
is machinery of some sort in the hut over the balcony 
which can be used for lowering and raising deities and 
creatures that live above the earth. On each side of the 
stage is a flight of steps leading to the balcony. These are 
often covered, as plainly shown by Mr. Godfrey's reconstruc- 
tion of the Fortune Theatre facing page i68. Here sit 
councils, senates, and princes with their courts. Macbeth 
uses them to give the impression of ascending to an upper 
chamber when he goes to kill the king, and down them he 
rushes to his wife after he has committed the fearful murder. 
What astonishes us most, however, is the absence of 
scenery. To be sure, some slight attempt has been made 

to create scenic illusion. There are, perhaps, 
the staffe ^ ^^^ trees and boulders, a table, a chair or 

two, and pasteboard dishes of food. But 
there is little more. In the only drawing of the interior of 
an Elizabethan theatre that has been preserved, — a sketch 
of the Swan made in 1596, — the stage has absolutely no 
furniture except one plain bench on which one of the actors 
is sitting. Here before us in the Globe the walls may be 
covered with loose tapestries, black if the play is to be a 
tragedy, blue if a comedy ; but it is quite possible that 
they are entirely bare. A placard on one of the pillars 
announces that the stage is now a street in Venice, now a 
courtroom, now the hall of a stately mansion. It may be 
that the Prologue, or even the actors themselves, will tell 
us at the opening of an act just where the scene is laid 
and what we are to imagine the platform to represent. 

174 



The Theatre. 

In '' Henry V,*' for instance, the Prologue at the begin- 
ning not only explains the setting of the play, but asks 
forgiveness of the audience for attempting to put on the 
stage armies and battles and the '' vasty fields of France.'' 

" But pardon, gentles all, 
The flat unraised spirit that hath dared 
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth 
So great an object. Can this cockpit hold 
The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram 
Within this wooden O the very casques 
That did affright the air at Agincourt ? 
O, pardon ! since a crooked figure may 
Attest in little place a million ; 
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, 
On your imaginary forces work. 
Suppose within the girdle of these walls 
Are now confined two mighty monarchies, 
Whose high-upreared and abutting fronts 
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder. 
Piece out our imperfections w^ith your thoughts ; 
Into a thousand parts divide one man, 
And make imaginary puissance. 
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them 
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth, 
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, 
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times. 
Turning the accompHshment of many years 
Into an hour-glass." 

In '* As You Like It " it is an actor who tells us at the 
opening of the second act that we are now to imagine the 
Forest of Arden before us. In the first sentence which 

175 



Appendix. 

the banished Duke speaks, he says, ^^ Are not these woods 
more free from peril than the envious court ? " and a mo- 
ment later, when Touchstone and the runaway maidens 
first enter the woods, Rosalind exclaims, ^' Well, this is 
the Forest of Arden ! " A hint, a reference, a few simple 
contrivances, a placard or two, — these are enough. 
^' Imaginary forces " are here in the audience keenly alive, 
and they will do the rest. By means of them, without the 
illusion of scenery, the bare wooden stage will become a 
ship, a garden, a palace, a London tavern. Whole armies 
will enter and retire by a single door. Battles will rage, 
royal processions pass in and out, graves will be dug, 
lovers will woo, — and all with hardly an important alter- 
ation of the setting. Lack of scenery does not limit the 
type of scenes that can be presented. On the contrary, 
it gives almost unlimited opportunities to the dramatist, 
for the spectators, in the force and freshness of their im- 
agination, are children who willingly " play " that the stage 
is anything the author suggests. Their youthful enthusi- 
asm, their simple tastes, above all their lack of knowledge 
of anything different, give them the enviable power of imag- 
ining the grandest, most beautiful, and most varied scenes 
on the same bare, unadorned boards. Apparently they 
are well satisfied with their stage ; for it is not until 
nearly fifty years after Shakespeare's death that movable 
scenery is used in an English theatre. 

It is now three o'clock and time for the performance to 
begin. Among the motley crowd of men and boys in the 
The per- yard there is no longer room for another box 
formanceof or stool. They are evidently growing im- 
a play. patient and jostle together in noisy confusion. 

Suddenly three long blasts on a trumpet sound. The 

176 



The Theatre. 

mutterings in the pit subside, and all eyes turn toward 
the stage. First an actor, clothed in a black mantle and 
wearing a laurel wreath on his head, comes from behind 
the curtain and recites the prologue. From it we learn 
something of the story of the play to follow, and possibly 
a little about the scene of action. This is all very wel- 
come, for we have no programs and the plot of the drama 
is unfamiliar. In a minute or two the Prologue retires 
and the actors of the first scene enter. We are soon im- 
pressed by the rapidity with which the play moves on. 
There is little stage " business " ; though there may be 
some music between the acts, still there are no long waits ; 
one scene follows another as quickly as the actors can 
make their exits and entrances. The whole play, there- 
fore, does not last much over two hours. At the close 
there is an epilogue, spoken by one of the actors, after 
which the players kneel and join in a prayer for the 
queen. Then comes a final bit of amusement for the 
groundlings : the clown, or some other comic character of 
the company, sings a popular song, dances a brisk and 
boisterous jig, and the performance of the day is done. 

During our novel experience this afternoon at the 
Globe, nothing has probably surprised us more than the 
elaborate and gorgeous costumes of the actors, costumes 
At a time when so little attention is paid to of the 
scenery we naturally expect to find the dress ^^tors. 
of the players equally simple and plain. But we are 
mistaken. The costumes, to be sure, make little or no 
pretension to fit the period or place of action. Caesar 
appears in clothes such as are worn by a duke or an earl 
in 1601. "They are the ordinary dresses of various 
classes of the day, but they are often of rich material, and 

177 



Appendix. 

in the height of current fashion. False hair and beards, 
crowns and sceptres, mitres and croziers, armour, hel- 
mets, shields, vizors, and weapons of war, hoods, bands, 
and cassocks, are relied on to indicate among the charac- 
ters differences of rank or profession. The foreign ob- 
server, Thomas Platter of Basle, was impressed by the 
splendor of the actors' costumes. ' The players wear the 
most costly and beautiful dresses, for it is the custom in 
England, that when noblemen or knights die, they leave 
their finest clothes to their servants, who, since it would 
not be fitting for them to wear such splendid garments, 
sell them soon afterwards to the players for a small 
sum.' " ^ But no money is spared to secure the fitting gar- 
ment for an important part. Indeed, it is quite probable 
that more is paid for a king's velvet robe or a prince's 
silken doublet than is given to the author for the play 
itself. Whether the elaborate costumes are appropriate 
or not, their general effect is pleasing, for they give variety 
and brilliant color to the bare and unattractive stage. 

If we are happily surprised by the costuming of the 
play, what shall we say of the actors who take the female 
Female parts ! They are very evidently not women, or 

parts taken even girls, but boys whose voices have not 
by boys. changed, dressed, tricked out, and trained to 
appear as feminine as possible. It is considered un- 
seemly for a woman to appear on a public stage, — in- 
deed, the professional actress does not exist and will not 
be seen in an English theatre for nearly a century. 
Meanwhile plays are written with few female parts (re- 
member *^ The Merchant of Venice," " Julius Caesar," and 
" Macbeth ") and young boys are trained to take these 
1 Sidney Lee : " Shakespeare and the Modern Stage," page 41. 

178 



The Theatre. 

roles. The theatregoers seem to enjoy the performance 
just as much as we do to-day with mature and accom- 
pHshed actresses on the stage. Shakespeare and his 
fellow dramatists treated the situation with good grace or 
indifference. Thus in the epilogue of '^ As You Like It " 
Rosalind says to the audience, " If I were a woman I would 
kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me." The 
jest, of course, consists in the fact that she is not a woman 
at all, but a stripling. In a more tragic vein Cleopatra, 
before she dies, complains that " the quick comedians . . . 
will stage us, . . . and I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra 
boy my greatness." It may be that the boys who take the 
women's parts this afternoon wear masks to make them 
seem less masculine, though how that can improve the 
situation it is difficult to understand. There is an amus- 
ing reference to this practice in '^ A Midsummer Night's 
Dream." When Flute, the bellows-mender, is assigned a 
part in the drama which the mechanics of Athens are 
rehearsing, he exclaims, "Nay, faith, let me not play a 
woman ; I have a beard coming " ; to which protest Quince 
replies, " That's all one : you shall play it in a mask, and 
you may speak as small as you will." 

Though rapid action, brilliant costumes, and, above all, 
the force and beauty of the lines, may lead us to forget 
that the heroine is only a boy, it is more diffi- _, 
cult to keep our attention from being distracted audience 
by the audience around us. It surprises us at the 
that there are so few women present. We ^^°^®- 
notice, too, that many of those who have come wear a 
mask of silk or velvet over their faces. Evidently it is 
hardly the proper thing for a respectable woman to be 
seen in a public theatre. The people in the balconies are 

179 



Appendix. 

fairly orderly, but below in the pit the crowd is restless, 
noisy, and at times even boisterous. Bricklayers, dock- 
laborers, apprentices, serving-men, and idlers stand in 
jostUng confusion. There are no police and no laws that 
are enforced. Pickpockets ply an active trade. One, 
we see, has been caught and is bound to the railing at the 
edge of the stage where he is an object of coarse jests and 
ridicule. Refreshment-sellers push about in the throng 
with apples and sausages, nuts and ale. There is much 
eating and drinking and plenty of smoking. On the stage 
the gallants are a constant source of bother to the players. 
They interrupt the Prologue, criticise the dress of the 
hero, banter the heroine, and joke with the clown. 
Even here in the gallery we can hear their comments — 
far from flattering — upon a scene that does not please 
them; when a little later they applaud, their praises are 
just as vigorous. Once it seems as though the play is 
going to be brought to a standstill by a wrangling quarrel 
between one of these rakish gentlemen and a group of 
groundlings near the stage. Their attention, however, is 
taken by the entrance of the leading actor declaiming a 
stirring passage, and their differences are soon forgotten. 
It is, on the whole, a good-natured rough crowd of the 
common people, the lower and middle classes from the 
great city across the river, — more like the crowd one sees 
to-day at a circus or a professional ball-game than at a 
theatre of the highest type. They loudly cheer the clown's 
final song and dance, and then with laughter, shouting, 
and jesting they pour out of the yard and in a moment 
the building is empty. The play is over until to-morrow 
afternoon. 

What a contrast it all has been to a play in a theatre of 

1 80 



The Theatre. 

the twentieth century ! When we think of the uncomfort- 
able benches, the flat bare earth of the pit, the lack of 
scenery, footlights, and drop curtains ; when w^e hear the 
shrill voices of boys piping the women's parts, and see 
mist and rain falling on spectator's heads, we are in- 
clined to pity the playgoer of Elizabethan conclusions 
times. Yet he needs no pity. To him the to be 
theatre of his day w^as sufficient. The drama drawn, 
enacted there was a source of intense and genuine pleas- 
ure. His keen enthusiasm; his fresh, youthful eagerness; 
above all, his highly imaginative power, — far greater 
than ours to-day, — gave him an ability to understand and 
enjoy the poetry and dramatic force of Shakespeare's 
works, which we, wdth all the improvements of our palatial 
theatres, cannot equal. Crude, simple, coarse as they 
now seem to us, we can look back only with admiration 
upon the Swan and the Curtain and the Globe ; for in 
them ''The Merchant of Venice," "As You Like It," 
"Julius Caesar," "Hamlet," and "Macbeth" were re- 
ceived with acclamations of joy and wonder. In them 
the genius of Shakespeare was recognized and given a 
place in the drama of England which now, after three cen- 
turies have passed, it holds in the theatres and in the 
literature of all the world. 



i8i 



BOOKS OF INTEREST TO STUDENTS OF 
SHAKESPEARE 

[A bibliography of works on Shakespeare would make a 
volume of considerable size. Here are a few of the most 
useful books for students and teachers.] 

William Shakespeare : A Critical Study. 

George Brandes. The Macmillan Co. 
A Life of William Shakespeare. 

Sidney Lee. The Macmillan Co. 
The Facts about Shakespeare. 

• Neilson and Thorndike. The Macmillan Co. 
William Shakespeare : Foet, Dramatist, and Man. 

H. W. Mabie. The Macmillan Co. 
Shakespeare and the Modern Stage. 

Sidney Lee. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Introduction to Shakespeare. 

Edward Dowden. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Shakespeare. 

Walter Raleigh. The Macmillan Co. 
William Shakespeare, 

John Masefield. Henry Holt & Co. 
Shakespeare : The Boy. 

W. J. RoLFE. Harper Bros. 
Handbook to the Works of Shakespeare. 

Morton Luce. George Bell & Sons. 

182 



Books of Interest. 

Shakespeare : his Life, Art, and Characters. 

Rev. H. N. Hudson. Ginn & Co. 

Shakespeare'' s England. 

William Winter. Moffat, Yard & Co. 

Shakespeare Manual. 

F. G. Fleay. The Macmillan Co. 

An interesting story of Shakespeare's times is Master 
Skylark, by John Bennett, published by The Century 
Company. 

Scott's Kenilworth is a story of London and Warwick- 
shire in 1575, and The Fortunes of Nigel gives a good 
picture of London in 1604, the year of "Othello." 



183 



EXPLANATORY NOTES 

Dramatis PERSONiE = persons of the dra7na ; the cast. 

In the folio of 1623, which was the eadiest edition of *' Julius 
Caesar," there is no list of dramatis personce^ and the acts are 
not divided into scenes. These additions, with many of the 
stage directions, are the work of later editors. 

triumvirs. Three men united in public office or authority. In 
Roman history the alliance of Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus in 
60 B.C. is known as the First Triumvirate. A similar alliance 
in 43 B.C. of Octavius Caesar, Antonius, and Lepidus is called the 
Second Triumvirate, and each member a triumvir. 

ACT I 

The subject of the play, it must be understood from the be- 
ginning, is Marcus Brutus. 

The idea of a conspiracy against Caesar's life is shown in the 
first act as originating in the mind of Cassius on grounds of per- 
sonal enmity, and as finding acceptance in the mind of Brutus 
on grounds of concern for the public welfare. The deliberate, 
conscientious meditation of Brutus on the awful step he con- 
templates as the means of freeing Rome from tyranny, is con- 
trasted with the ardor and the trickery with which Cassius and 
Casca apply themselves to the furtherance of the plot, and chiefly 
to the securing of Brutus as its leader. The sum and substance 
of the act is expressed in the last eight lines of the last scene. 
Casca. O, he {i.e. Brutus) sits high in all the people's hearts : 

And that which would appear offence in us 

His countenance, like richest alchemy. 

Will change to virtue and to worthiness. 

185 



Notes. Act I, Scene 1. 

Cas. Him and his worth and our great need of him 
You have right well conceited. Let us go, 
For it is after midnight ; and ere day 
We will awake him and be sure of him. 

(I, 3, 157-164.) 

Scene 1 

All the actors in this scene disappear from the play with the 
end of the scene itself. Tribunes and commoners, they are not 
personcB of the drama at all, but speak their brief parts as types 
of the social divisions and the political animosities of the Rome 
of Caesar's time. What the historian would require pages to tell 
and explain the poet in a few lines reveals to us as a picture. The 
commoners are nameless, as they are in the records of history, 
and have to be distinguished by being numbered ; they are witty, 
good-natured, coarse of speech, incapable of high political prin- 
ciple. But they represent the physical strength of Rome because 
they are a multitude and will follow devotedly a leader who wins 
them to his side. Whoever aspires to control Rome must be 
popular with the commons, and the commons have been won by 
Caesar. The tribunes stand by the lost cause of Pompey. The 
tribunes represent patrician conservatism ; they are imperious 
and full of dignity ; their speech is warmed with noble sentiment ; 
they typify Roman patriotism. 

Rome. A Street. The scene opens on the feast of the Luper- 
calia, February 15, in the year 44 B.C. The period of action 
extends to the battle of Philippi, in the autumn of 42 B.C. 

Commoners : common people, tradesmen. 

Line 3. being mechanical: being mechanics, workmen. 

4, 5. the sign of your profession : the regular clothes and 
badges of your trades. Shakespeare transfers to Rome the cus- 
toms of the English guilds, or bands of tradesmen, of his day. 

5. what trade art thou ? " Of" is omitted, as again in line 
9, and as was ^' to " in line 3. 

186 



Act I, Scene 1. NotCS. 

1-5. Flavius and Marullus would seem In this passage, lines 
1-5, to be enforcing a Roman law ; but the existence of such 
a law is an invention of the poet, who perhaps transfers to Rome 
a usage of his own country. It must be remembered that 
Shakespeare got his knowledge of history from very limited 
reading, and had no conception of nice scholarly scruples about 
mingling features of ancient and modern times. It may be said, 
generally, that the plays give evidence of wide observation, but 
not of exact learning. 

9. in respect of: in comparison with. 

10. a cobbler : a clumsy workman ; a " botcher.'' The word 
in Shakespeare's time did not necessarily refer to a mender of 
shoes. Marullus therefore repeats his question. 

11. directly : without evasion, in a straightforward manner. 

13. a mender of bad soles. The Second Commoner is a witty 
fellow, who evidently delights in plaguing Marullus with his 
puns. Already he has played upon the double meaning of 
cobbler ; here he does the same with soles (souls), and a moment 
later he is at it again. Punning was evidently considered a high 
form of wit in 1600; indeed from its frequent occurrence in 
Shakespeare's plays and those of his fellow dramatists, it seems 
to have been a genuine source of amusement to the Elizabethan 
audience. 

14. knave : rascal, rogue. 

16. be not out with me : be not at odds or angry with me. 
Playing upon the word, in the next line the cobbler uses " out " 
in the sense of '^ out at the toes." 

23. awl. The small, slender tool used by cobblers for making 
holes in leather. Here, and again in " recover " two Hnes below, 
the commoner is teasing Marullus with word quibbles. 

26. proper : handsome, goodly. In " The Merchant of Ven- 
ice " Portia says of Falconbridge, "He is "Bl proper man's picture." 
neat's-leather: ox-hide, cow-hide. 

32. in his triumph. This was Caesar's fifth and last triumph, 
given him in honor of his victory over the sons of Pompey at the 

187 



Notes. Act I, Scene 1. 

battle of Munda in Spain. A Roman " triumph " was a celebra- 
tion, with processions and religious ceremonies, given to a re- 
turning victor. 

34. tributaries: persons who pay tribute, dependents. One 
of the features of a Roman general's " triumph " was the proces- 
sion of captives, bound to his chariot and dragged through the 
streets of the capital. 

38. Pompey. Three years earlier than this, Caesar had over- 
thrown Pompey at the battle of Pharsalia. 

43. pass the streets. Notice throughout the play the frequent 
omission of prepositions. (See Hues 3 and 5 above.) 

46. That: so that, — an ellipsis common in Shakespeare. 

47. To hear the replication : at hearing the echo. 

48. her concave shores : her hollowed, rounded banks. The 
Romans personified rivers as masculine : the Tiber to them was 
" Father Tiber '' ; but writers of Shakespeare's time more fre- 
quently thought of rivers as feminine. So in the next scene we 
find, " The troubled Tiber, chafing with her shores." The poet 
uses the neuter possessive " its " only ten times in all his works, 
and it does not occur once in the King James Bible, translated 
in 161 1. 

50. cull out: pick out. "Is this the time to choose for a 
holiday?" 

52. Pompey's blood : Pompey's sons, whom Caesar had defeated 
in the battle of Munda. One of them, Cnaeus, had been slain. 

55. intermit the plague : avert or moderate the pestilence. 
The fearful plagues which swept over Europe in the Middle Ages, 
and which lasted well through the seventeenth century, were 
often regarded as a form, of divine punishment for human sins. 

56. needs : of necessity. In *' The Merchant " Lorenzo says, 
" I must needs tell thee all." 

60, till the lowest stream, etc. : " till your tears swell the 
river from the extreme low-water mark to the extreme high-water 
mark" (Hudson). This sort of exaggeration, or hyperbole, is 
not uncommon in the plays. 

188 



Act' I, Scene 1. NoteS. 



62. metal: spirit, — a favorite word with Shakespeare in this 
sense. 

65. the images. That is, Cassar^s statues and busts, which 
were adorned with "ceremonies," or scarfs and decorations. 

68. Lupercal. The Lupercalia was a festival celebrated in 
Rome on February 15, in honor of Lupercus, a god closely iden- 
tified with the Greek Pan. From another name of Lupercus, 
Februus^ comes our word February. 

71. the vulgar : the common people, — the original meaning 
of the word. (Lat. vulgus. common people.) 

74. pitch : height. The figure in these lines is taken from 
the sport of hawking, or falconry. Removing the scarfs from 
Caesar's images is thus compared to plucking feathers from the 
wings of a falcon to prevent its flying too far and too high. 
(Compare our words high-flyer and high-flown.^ 

76. servile fearfulness : slavish terror. Exeunt : they go 
out, — the plural of exit. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What is the purpose, in your judgment, of the conflict be- 
tween the tribunes and the mob at the opening of the play? 

2. How does this opening foreshadow events that are to 
follow ? 

3. What is there humorous in this scene? 

4. Are your sympathies with the tribunes or with the com- 
moners ? Why? 

5. Why does the poet have the tribunes speak in verse, the 
commoners in prose? 

6. What ideals of Roman citizenship are represented by the 
tribunes in their tirade against the mob ? 

7. Why do you think Shakespeare does not attempt to dis- 
tinguish the characters of Marullus and Flavius ? 

8. What is there eloquent and poetic in the speech of Marul- 
lus beginning, "Wherefore rejoice"? Which lines of this 
speech do you like best ? 

189 



Notes. Act I, Scene 2. 

9. If you were to stage this scene to-day how would you 
arrange the setting? What action and by-play would you have 
before Flavins first speaks? During the long speeches of the 
tribunes ? 

10. Why not omit this scene altogether? What would be 
lost? Do you think it is used in modern presentations of 
Julius Caesar? 

ACT I 

Scene 2 

With the second scene all the great characters are introduced. 
First is Marcus Brutus^ the hero of the tragedy. Although the 
play bears the name of Julius Caesar, Brutus is the veritable hero 
of it, for it is his fate that furnishes the motive for the entire 
piece, his is the only figure that moves to its tragic exit in 
unbroken dignity and majesty. With not a single touch does 
the poet derogate from the impression of moral greatness which 
he means we shall form of his Brutus. In his conception of 
Brutus' character he follows Plutarch, but goes further than his 
authority, as was dramatically right, and as he has done with the 
other chief persons of the drama, notably wath Caesar. 

The main motive of the tragedy, — the essentially tragical 
point of it, — is the mistake of Brutus in undertaking a task for 
which his moral nature renders him unfit. The assassination 
of Caesar is, in the play, incidental to the development of 
the career of Brutus. Brutus commands deference from all; 
and Cassius, who is Brutus's superior in practical sagacity, 
cheerfully yields to him in matters of crucial moment, being 
overawed by his commanding force of character. This force 
of personal character, joined with a reputation for absolute in- 
tegrity of purpose, makes Brutus the natural leader of the men 
of his own rank with whom he is brought into contact. He 
stands well with the mob also, but does not make sufficient 
allowance for its fickleness, and foolishly imputes to it some- 
thing of his own constancy and sense of honor. 

190 



Act I, Scene 2. NoteS. 



As Shakespeare is not writing history or chronicle, but drama, 
— though indeed he is dramatizing a chapter of history, — he is 
no more bound to observe the exact proportions of character as 
these may be deduced from the records, than he is to respect the 
unities of time and place. For his present purpose he wished to 
enlarge and idealize Brutus, and to obscure and vulgarize Caesar. 
For this procedure with regard to Caesar he found a shadow of 
warrant in his historian. Plutarch is a gossip, by no means 
always careful to tell of his heroes only the grand achievements 
by which they won renown. Caesar appears in his pages quite 
subject to the infirmities of human nature. The poet finds this 
aspect of the great dictator suitable to his purpose, exaggerates 
it in accordance with dramatic custom, — and so gives us his 
Julius Caesar. 

Antony, /^r the course. That is, ready to run the course: 
undressed. 

Soothsayer. One who claims to have supernatural fore- 
sight ; a prophet or diviner. Literally, one who " says sooth," 
i.e. "tells the truth." 

3. in Antonius' way. It was the custom at the Lupercalia 
for the priests to run through the streets of Rome, waving 
leather thongs and striking any whom they passed. Marcus 
Antonius at this time was at the head of one of the bands of 
Luperci. 

8. The barren. Caesar at this time had no children. His 
only daughter, Julia, who was the wife of Pompey, had died a 
few years before. 

9. sterile curse : the curse of childlessness. 
11. Set on : move on, start. 

18. ides of March : March 15th. 

24. pass : let us pass on. Sennet. A peculiar set of notes 
on the trumpet which Shakespeare frequently uses as a signal 
for a march, or to accompany a royal procession. 

25. the order of the course. That is, the running of the priests 
in the streets. 

• 191 



Notes. Act I, Scene 2. 

28. gamesome: fond of games. 

29. quickspirit : lively, gay spirit (Compare " quick " here 
with quick^AvQX^ and with the word in the expression, *^ the 
quick and the dead.'') 

32. I do observe, etc. " I have been noticing you lately, Bru- 
tus, and," etc. 

34. show: evidence. as: which, or "such as." wont: 
accustomed. 

35. You bear too stubborn, etc. " You treat your friend too 
harshly and unfamiliarly." The picture is of a man driving a 
horse with too tight and too harsh a rein. 

" This man, Caius Cassius Longinus, had married Junia, a sis- 
ter of Brutus. Both had lately stood for the chief Praetorship 
of the city, and Brutus, through Caesar's favor, had won it. . . . 
This is said to have produced a coldness between Brutus and 
Cassius, so that they did not speak to each other, till this extraor- 
dinary flight of patriotism brought them together." (Hudson.) 

39. Merely : wholly, altogether. 

40. passions of some difference : fluctuating, contradictory 
feelings ; a " discord of emotions." 

41. only proper to myself: belonging exclusively to me; pe- 
culiar to me alone. 

42. give some soil . . . to : soil, tarnish, blemish. be- 
haviors : manners, actions. Such plurals of abstract nouns- are 
not uncommon in Shakespeare. Here it has the eff'ect of repe- 
tition, or "behavior on several occasions." (Cf. line 133 below.) 

45. c6nstrue : explain, interpret. This word is always accented 
on the first syllable in Shakespeare's plays. Notice also " mis- 
construed" in "The Merchant of Venice" H, 11, 178: "I be 
misconstrued in the place I go to." 

48. mistook your passion : misunderstood your feelings. 
Similarly Shakespeare has " spoke " for " spoken," " wrote " for 
" written," etc. (Cf. H, i, 125.) 

49. By means whereof : because of which. 

50. cogitations : thoughts. 

192 



Act I, Scene 2. NoteS. 



53. But by reflection, etc. That is, the eye can see itself only 
by reflection in a mirror or some other polished surface. 

54. *Tis just: that is true; '^ that's so." 

58. shadow : reflected image, reflection. 

59. Where. Used loosely for "when" or "that," — much as 
we sometimes say, " I read in the paper where the governor," etc. 
many of the best respect : many of the most highly respected 
men in Rome. 

66. Therefore. Ignoring Brutus's question, Cassius refers 
here to the wish which he has heard expressed, and which he is 
going to answer by what follows. 

69.* Will modestly discover: will disclose to you without exag- 
geration that side of yourself, etc. 

71. jealous on me: doubtful, suspicious of me. In line 162 
Brutus says : "That you do love me I am nothing Jealous.'''' 

72. laugher : buffoon, jester. In the Folio editions of the 
play the word here is " laughter," which would mean " object of 
laughter or scorn." The change to "laugher," which was made 
by Pope in the i8th century, has generally been accepted. Do 
you feel, however, that perhaps the change was not necessary 
after all? 

72, 73. did use to stale, etc. " were I accustomed to cheapen 
my love with too frequent oaths." 

74. every new protester : every new claimant for my friendship. 

75, 76. fawn on men, etc. " If you know that I am one who 
flatters men, holds them close to my heart, and afterwards de- 
fames them." Shakespeare often uses a noun as a verb in a 
strikingly forceful way, as " scandal " in this passage. 

77. I profess myself, etc. " If I declare myself, when at ban- 
quets, a friend to all the company, then you should regard me as 
a dangerous flatterer." "Rout" of course is used contemptu- 
ously, as we might speak of " the mob," " the crowd," " the com- 
mon herd." Flourish. This was probably a few notes on a 
trumpet. (See opening stage directions of this scene, and com- 
pare " Sennet " in line 24.) 

193 



Notes. Act I, Scene 2. 

80. How should this line be read to show Cassius' meaning? 

85. the general good : the good of the community, the com- 
mon weal. 

86. Set honor, etc. " 1 will look upon honor and death to- 
gether without emotion." 

88. speed : prosper, bless. 

91. your outward favor: your face, personal appearance. In 
this sense we still use " ill-favored," and in some parts of Amer- 
ica we have now and then such an expression as '' sho^ favors her 
mother," meaning " she looks like her mother." 

95. lief.' To bring out clearly the play on " live," which 
Shakespeare undoubtedly intended, we should pronounce this 
word "lieve." 

101. chafing with : rubbing against. (Any large dictionary 
will explain the interesting connection between this word and 
^^ chauffeur " and " chafing-dish.") 

104. And swim to yonder point. This incident, apparently 
invented by Shakespeare, may have been suggested to him by 
Plutarch's statement that Caesar was a great swimmer. 

105. Accoutred : dressed, clothed. 

108. With lusty sinews : with vigorous muscles. 

109. stemming it : making headway against it. hearts of 
controversy : contending hearts, courage that contended against 
the torrent. Similar constructions are common in Shakespeare, 
as " passions of difference " in line 40 above, " thieves of 
mercy " for " merciful thieves," " mind of love " for " loving 
mind." 

110. arrive the point. Point out other places where you have 
already noticed similar omissions of prepositions. 

112. -ffineas. According to the legend, the Trojan hero 
i^neas was the son of Anchises and Venus. The story of his 
wanderings, after the Greeks had sacked Troy, and his founding 
of Rome, is told in VergiPs great epic poem, the "^neid." 

119. He had a fever. This incident again was probably sug- 
gested by Plutarch's fife of Caesar : "- ... the falling sickness 

194 



Act I, Scene 2. NoteS. 



(the which took him the first time, as ft is reported, in Cordoba, 
a city of Spain)/' 

122. His coward lips, etc. That is, '' the color fled from his 
lips." The picture is evidently of cowardly soldiers fleeing from 
their colors, or their flag. 

123. whose bend: whose inclination, frown. 

124. his lustre : its brightness. (See note on '^ her shores," 
I, I, 50.) 

126. Mark: notice. 

129. temper: nature, constitution, temperament. In "The 
Merchant " Portia says that " a hot teinper leaps o'er a cold 
decree." 

130, 131. So get the start, etc. The figure is from the run- 
ning of a foot-race. 

133. these applauses. Remember the plural " behaviors " in 
line 42 above. 

136. Colossus. A gigantic bronze statue of Apollo erected in 
280 B.C. on the shore of the harbor at Rhodes, and known as 
one of the " seven wonders of the world." Cassius here uses the 
word " bestride " because of the tradition that the statue stood 
astride the mouth of the harbor, so that ships sailed " under his 
huge legs." Why does he speak of the world as narrow? 

140. our stars. That is, the planets that govern our lives. 
The plays of Shakespeare abound with references to the belief 
of his time that men's fortunes were controlled by the stars and 
planets. (Look up " astrology.") 

141. underlings : inferiors, servile persons. Note the force of 
the ending -ling in these words : " hireling," " groundling," 
" changeling," " starling." 

146. conjure with 'em, etc. That is, use them as means of 

summoning up, or "starting," spirits. 

150. Age : the times, " the age in which we live-" 

152. the great flood. Not the flood of Noah and the Ark, but 

the great flood of Greek mythology from which Deucalion and 

Pyrrha were the sole survivors. 

195 



Notes Act I, Scene 2. 



156. Rome indeed and room enough. We can understand 
Cassius' play upon words here when^'we remember that " Rome," 
in Shakespeare's time, was pronounced ahuost exactly like 
" room.*" 

159. a Brutus. This was Lucius Junius Brutus who drove the 
tyrant Tarquin from Rome, and led in reestablishing the republic. 
Our Marcus Brutus of the play, according to Plutarch, was 
descended from him. would have brooked, etc. : would have 
tolerated the Devil to rule in Rome as soon as a king. Shake- 
speare uses "eternal" several times for "infernal." "Perhaps," 
says Hudson, " our Yankee phrases, ' tarnal shame,' ^ tarnal 
scamp,' etc., are relics of this usage. It seems that the Puritans 
thought infernal too profane for godly mouths, and so translated 
its sense to eternal.'''' 

162. am nothing jealous : do not doubt. Remember Cassius' 
"be not jealous on me " in line 71 above. 

163. aim: guess, conjecture. 

166. so : if, provided that, — as often in Shakespeare. 

170. such high things : such important matters. 

171. chew. This is a translation of the Latin " ruminate," 
which we still use in the sense of " reflect," " ponder." 

172. a villager. To be a countryman, — a rustic, — from the 
point of view of a Roman citizen, was to be an outcast and a 
boor. 

173. Than to repute : than consider myself. To-day we do not 
use "to" after the idiom " had rather." 

174. as : which, such as. (A similar use of " as " occurred in 
line 34 of thig scene.) 

177. but: even. The figure here is from the starting of fire 
by the use of steel and flint. Later in the play Brutus describes 
his own cold nature thus : 

O Cassius, you ?,re yoked with a lamb 
That carries anger as the flint bears fire^ 
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty sparky 
And straight is cold again. 

196 



Act I, Scene 2. NotCS. 



181. What hath proceeded, etc. '^ What has happened worthy 
of notice to-day." Noteworthy has become a common adjective 
to-day. 

184. chidden: rebuked, censured, scolded. 

186. ferret . . . eyes. The ferret has small reddish eyes. 

187. seen him. That is, seen him look with. 

188. crossed in conference : opposed in debate. 

193. Sleek-headed men. According to Plutarch, Caesar once 
said to friends who " complained unto him of Antonius and 
Dolabella, that they pretended some mischief towards him, ^As 
for those fat men and smooth-combed heads, I never reckon of 
them ; but these pale-visaged and carrion lean people, I fear 
them most,' meaning Brutus and Cassius." 

193. 0' nights : at night. 

194. Yond. An old form of ^' yon.'' (Cf. "yonder.") 

197. well given: well disposed. This expression, like many 
others in the play, occurs in North's " Plutarch," from which 
Shakespeare drew the material for his tragedy. 

199. if my name were liable to fear : that is, "If it were pos- 
sible for me to be afraid." Caesar uses " my name " for " myself." 

204. he hears no music. Such a man Shakespeare evidently 
considered dangerous. 

The man that hath no music in himself, 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils ; 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night 

And his affections dark as Erebus : 

Let no such man be trusted. 

{" Merchant of Venice," V, i, 83-88.) 

205. sort : way, manner. 

209. Whiles. An old form of " while," closely related to our 
" whilst." 

217. sad. Probably here in the earlier sense of "grave," 
"serious." 

228. marry. An exclamation about equivalent to our " in- 

197 



Notes. Act I, Scene 2. 

deed." Originally, as the word shows, it was an oath, being a 
shortened form for " by the Virgin Mary,'''' 

229. gentler than other : more gently than the other. 

237. coronets. These were inferior to crowns, and in various 
forms denoted different degrees of noble rank less than sover- 
eign. Here again the poet transfers to Rome an English custom. 

239. fain : gladly, willingly. , 

243. rabblement : rabble, noisy crowd, mob. 

244. chopt : chapped, rough and cracked. Macbeth speaks 
of the choppy finger of a witch. 

247. s wounded ... 250. s wound. Shakespeare uses these 
forms as well as the modern swoon and swooned, 

250. soft : hold ! stop ! not so fast ! 

253. 'Tis very like : quite likely, it^s very probable. the 
falling-sickness. That is, epilepsy, — a nervous disease accom- 
panied, in its violent forms, with loss of consciousness, foaming 
at the mouth, and convulsions. Suetonius, in his life of Caesar, 
says that the great Roman general was subject to fainting fits 
and that "he was twice seized with the falling-sickness while 
engaged in active service." 

257. tag-rag: ragged and idle. (Cf. the expression "the rag, 
tag, and bobtail.") 

260. no true man : no honest man. 

264. plucked me ope his doublet : he opened his coat. The 
"me" in this construction is called the ethical dative (for me). 
It has no particular meaning here, though it may possibly add a 
little force to Casca's words. 

The doublet (which did not come into use until the close 
of the 15 th century) was a close-fitting outer garment with 
sleeves, and was belted at the waist. The expression " doublet 
and hose" occurs frequently in the plays. 

265. An: if, ^ — as often in Shakespeare. a man of any occu- 
pation. That is, " had I been a mechanic like those to whom he 
offered his throat." 

266. at a word. We should say " at his word." 

T98 



Act I, Scene 2. Notes. 



270. wenches : girls, — the sisters or daughters of the " com- 
moners." As used here, and often in Shakespeare, the word 
corresponds almost exactly to the masculine " fellow." 

274. sad. See note on "sad" in line 217 above. 

277. he spoke Greek. How does Casca speak these words ? 
What light do they throw on Cicero's character ? 

282. it was Greek to me: it was meaningless to me. The 
proverb here includes, of course, a play upon Casca's earlier 
remark, "Ay, he spoke Greek." 

287. I am promised forth : I have promised already to dine 
out. In "The Merchant of Venice" Shylock says, "I am bid 
forth to supper," and " I have no mind of feasting forth." 

293. blunt: dull, slow, — just the opposite of "quick mettle" 
in the next line, which means " of high or lively spirit." 

297. this tardy form : this sluggish, slothful manner, — prob- 
ably of talking, in reference to Casca's beating about the bush 
and hesitation in his story of Caesar and the crown. 

305. think of the world. That is, "think of the affairs of 
Rome." What is the significance of this remark as a farewell to 
Brutus ? 

307. metal : spirit, character. Point out two similar uses of 
the word earlier in the play. 

307, 308. may be wrought From, 'etc. : may be moved, or 
changed, from that to which it is inclined. meet : fitting, 
suitable. 

311. bear me hard. That is, " Caesar regards me with ill-will, 
or disfavor." 

313. He should not humor me. " He (that is, Brutus) should 
not cajole me (play upon my humor) as I do him." (Warbur- 
ton.) Cassius seems to think that he would not be as easy to 
work upon as he is finding Brutus. 

314. hands: handwritings, — as often in Shakespeare. 
316. tending to: setting forth, indicating. 

318. glanced at : hinted at, suggested. 

319, 320. let Caesar seat him sure, etc. Let Caesar establish 

199 



Notes. Act I, Scene 2. 



himself firmly in power, for we will either overthrow him, or 
suffer the consequences of the attempt to unseat him. 

Notice the rhyme {sure . . . endure) in these two last lines, 
similar to the ending of II, 3, V, 3, and the close of the play. 
Such a rhyming couplet often marked the close of a scene, or 
even the exit of an actor, in old plays before the days of curtains 
and elaborate changes of scenery. (See page 176.) 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Imagine and describe the setting of the scene. How does 
it make a splendid pageant on the stage to-day? 

2. What is the first impression you get of Caesar? Favorable 
or unfavorable ? How? 

3. Why do you think Shakespeare introduced the soothsayer 
at this point? What effect do his words have on the audience? 

4. Does the soothsayer seem to have any effect upon Caesar? 
Upon Cassius or Brutus? 

5. How does Cassius skilfully lead up to his subject? What 
is his evident motive from the first? 

6. How would you have Brutus appear and act during the 
long speeches of Cassius, 90-131 and 1 35-1 61 ? 

7. Does Cassius seem to you to speak from personal enmity 
toward Caesar, or solely from interest in the public welfare? 
Support your reasons by quoting various lines. 

8. What is the effect of the distant shout and Brutus' com- 
ment? (131-133-) 

9. What reasons does Cassius give for wanting Brutus to join 
the conspiracy? 

10. Why do you think Cassius recalls to Brutus the deeds of 
his ancestors? 

11. Compare the appearance of Caesar's train as it returns with 
the spectacle at the opening of the scene. 

12. How does Shakespeare give us an impression of what has 
taken place while Cassius has been talking to Brutus ? 

13. Why have Caesar comment upon Antony, Brutus, and 

200 



Act I, Scene 3. NotCS. 

especially upon Cassius, as he does? Do his words here have 
an important effect upon the audience? 

14. Why does the poet have Casca speak entirely in prose ? 

15. What opinion do you form of Casca from his manner and 
his words? 

16. Comment upon the words of Brutus in lines 293-294. 
How does Cassius turn these words to his own use? 

17. What opinion do you form of Cassius from his last speech 
in this scene? 

18. Can you explain why this last speech is often omitted on 
the stage to-day ? 

19. What contrast has Shakespeare already clearly made be- 
tween Cassius and Brutus ? 

20. Quote any lines you particularly like and tell why you like 
them. 



ACT I 

Scene 3 

In the preceding scene we saw Cassius sound Brutus' feelings 
concerning the growth of Caesar's power in the state, and learned 
from his final soliloquy the result of his observations, — 
Well, Brutus, thou art noble, yet I see . . . 

The third scene shows Cassius rapidly and with simple means 
winning Casca, and planning with Casca and Cinna the subtler 
devices which shall appeal to the moral sense of Brutus. 

The previous scene took place on February 15th. A month 
has passed, and now it is the evening before the 15th of March. 

1. brought you Caesar home? Did you escort Caesar home? 

3. the sway of earth : the balanced swing, or regular move- 
ment of the earth ; the established order of nature. 

6. rived : split, cleaved. The form riven also is in use. In 
Cooper's " Deerslayer " there is an Indian chief named Rivenoak. 

8. to be exalted, etc., so as to rise as high as the threatening 

201 



Notes. Act I, Scene 3. 



clouds. In " The Merchant of Venice " the Prince of Morocco 
speaks of 

The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 

Spits in the face of heaven. 

11. civil strife in heaven : civil war among the gods. 

12. too saucy with : too insolent towards the gods. 

13. destruction. The metre requires four syllables, — destruc- 
ti'On, At the end of a line it is not uncommon to find ion treated 
as two syllables, i-on. 

14. more wonderful. That is, " more wonderful than this storm 
you have just been describing," or possibly Cicero may simply 
mean " more wonderful than usual." Which do you prefer? 

15-27. These portents, or prodigies as Casca' calls them, are 
all given in Plutarch's life of Caesar. Compare the two versions. 
Which do you prefer, the prose or the poetry? 

19. I ha' not since, etc. '* You see, I still have my sword 
drawn." (Cf. stage directions at opening of scene.) 

20. Against: opposite. 

21. Who. Shakespeare frequently uses "who" to refer to 
inanimate objects and animals, just as he uses " which " some- 
times when referring to persons. The relative pronouns had 
not become fixed in his time. (In the Bible of i6ii we find 
" Our Father, which art," etc.) surly : in a gruff or haughty 
manner. The word is an adjective and must not be confiised 
with the adverbs surely or sourly, (There is an adverb surlily,) 

23. Upon a heap : in a crowd or mob. 

26. the bird of night. This, of course, is the owl, which, like 
the crow and the raven, has always been considered a bird of 
bad omen. Can you account for these strange superstitions by 
the habits, notes, and color of these birds? 

Just before the murder of Duncan in '' Macbeth " Lady Mac- 
beth says : 

It was the owl th2it shrieked, the fatal bellman, 
Which gives the stern'st good-night. 
29. conjointly meet : come together, happen at the same time. 

202 



Act I, Scene 3. Notes. 



30. These are, etc. That is, " Such and such are their causes." 

31. portentous things : signs and omens. 

32. the climate : the region, country, — as we use the " clime." 

33. strange-disposed : strangely ordered. Here again is an ad- 
jective where we should use an adverb. (Cf. " went surly by " 
in line 21 above.) 

34. construe. See note on line 45 of the previous scene. 

35. Clean from : completely away from, — as we say, " I clean 
forgot it." 

39. Is not to -walk in. That is, is not fit or suitable to walk 
under. Some explain " sky " as meaning " weather," " atmos- 
phere," though this is not necessary. 

42. what night is this! We should say, ^' What a night this 
is!" 

47. Submitting me : exposing myself. 

48. unbraced: '^with my doublet unfastened," — my coat un- 
buttoned. Shakespeare clothes his Romans in the English 
clothes of his own day. It is evident from this passage, and 
many others throughout the play, that actors in 1600 wore the 
costume of their own day, and did not attempt to dress according 
to the parts they played. 

49. thunder-stone : the thunderbolt which many people still 
believe falls with lightning. 

50. cross blue lightning: the zigzag flash, etc. How blue? 
58. you do want, etc. : you lack, or make no use of them. 

60. put on fear, etc. : suffer fear and throw yourself into a state 
of wonder. Thus we say, " 1 was thrown into confusion." 

63-66. Why. After each why we must supply some such ex- 
pression as ^^ we see." 

64. from quality and kind. That is, why we see birds and 
beasts change their natures. 

65. old men fool and children calculate : why old men act like 
fools and children think wisely, — that is, why everything is up- 
side down. 

66. their ordinance : what they were ordained or made to be. 

203 



Notes. Act I, Scene 3. 

67. preformed faculties : faculties created for special purposes. 

68. To monstrous quality: to a strange, abnormal kind of 
thing. why. This is the turning-point of this long involved 
sentence, and is about equivalent to now^ well then. 

71. some monstrous state : some fearful state of affairs ; some 
terrible calamity in the government. 

Cassius' long, complicated sentence (62-71) may be summed 
up briefly as follows : " These strange sights, these things con- 
trary to nature, are a sign and v^arning from heaven." 

77. prodigious : portentous, of the nature of a prodigy, — as 
generally in Shakespeare. 

81. thews : muscles. 

82. woe the while! woe the time! alas the day! 

83. with our mothers^ spirits. That is, by feminine rather 
than masculine impulses or feelings. 

84. Our yoke and sufferance : our endurance of tyranny. A 
good illustration of hendiadys, a figure of speech, which you 
should look up in a large dictionary. 

90. Cassius from bondage, etc. Cassius will free himself from 
slavery, as he says later, by killing himself. 

95. Can be retentive, etc. Can repress, or confine, man's 
spiritual strength. 

97. In the last act we shall see presented in actual deed 
"this Roman idea of taking one's own life when it became 
unbearable." 

98. know all the world besides : let all the world know too. 
101. bondman: slave, " bound-man." 

108. begin it with weak straws. "Just as men start a huge 
fire with worthless straws or shavings, so Caesar is using the de- 
generate Romans of his time to set the whole world ablaze with 
his own glory." (Hudson.) 
I 109. offal : worthless, waste stuff. 

114. My answer must be made. I must answer for my words. 

117. fleering : deceitful, treacherously grinning. Hold, my 
hand : Here, take my hand. 

204 



Act I, Scene 3. NotCS. 



118. Be factious : be active in forming a party, a faction, for 
redress of all these grievances. 

123. undergo: undertake, — as often in Shakespeare. 

124. honorable-dangerous. A similar compound adjective oc- 
curred in line 33 above, and later we find " high-sighted '^ and 
"honey-heavy." 

125. by this : by this time. 

126. Pompey's porch. The magnificent theatre of Pompey, 
where the statue of the great Roman general stood, was erected 
in 55 B.C. in the Campus Martins, or Field of Mars. The pore k 
was an elaborate portico connected with the theatre. 

128. the complexion of the element : the appearance of the 
heavens. 

129. In favor's like : in aspect, or looks, is like the work, etc. 
(See note on "your outwsird /avor,''^ I, 2, 91.) 

135. incorporate : closely united : heart and soul in sympathy 
with our efforts. 

137. I am glad on't. Overlooking Cassius' last question 
Cinna expresses his pleasure at hearing that Casca has joined 
their conspiracy. on't : of it. In I, 2, 71 Cassius said, '^Be 
not jealous on me." 

138. There's two or three. The grammar of our language was 
less rigidly fixed in Shakespeare's time than it is to-day. Thus we 
find in this play many instances of singular verbs with plural sub- 
jects, as just below in line 148, and again in line 155. Later we 
find " There is tears for his love." -As a matter of fact, in conver- 
sation to-day even educated persons use such expressions as 
" There's several reasons " and "There's six or eight of us." 

143. praetor's chair. The praetor was a city magistrate, an- 
nually elected, who watched over the administration of justice. 
He was distinguished by the presence of lictors, by the toga, and 
by the curule chair. Marcus Brutus had been made praetor by 
Caesar in 44 B.C., or about two years before the conspiracy.* 

146. old Brutus' statue. This was Lucius Junius Brutus, to 
whom Cassius referred in I, 2, 1 59-1 61. 

205 



Notes. Act I, Scene 3. 



There was a Brutus once that would have brooked 
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 
As easily as a king. 

It is interesting to see how closely Shakespeare followed Plu- 
tarch's '' Life of Brutus " here : 

"For under the image of his ancestor Junius Brutus (that 
drave the kings out of Rome) they wrote : O, that it pleased the 
gods thou wert now alive, Brutus ! and again, That thou wert 
here among us now! His tribunal, or chair, where he gave 
audience during the time he was Praetor, was full of such bills : 
" Brutus, thou art asleep, and art not Brutus indeed." 

148. Is. See note on "There's two or three," line 138 above. 

150. hie : hasten, hurry, • — often with a pronoun as in " The 
Merchant," "Hie thee, gentle Jew." 

152. Pompey^s theatre. See note on " Pompey's porch " in 
line 126 above. 

154, 155. three parts of him is. See note on " There's two or 
three" in line 138 above. Such expressions as this were really 
not bad grammar -in Shakespeare's English. 

159. his countenance : his approval, his countenancing support. 
alchemy. This was the art by which men for centuries tried to 
turn the base metals, such as lead and iron, into gold. From the 
Greek Midas, who was able to turn everything he touched into 
gold, down to modern times, literature is full of references to 
alchemy and the alchemist. 

162. You have right well conceited : you have formed an ex- 
cellent idea of Brutus and our great need of him. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Compare the Cassius of this scene with the Cassius of 
Scene 2, especially the manner of his winning Casca and Brutus. 

2. What would probably be the effect upon the audience of 
the thunder and lightning during this scene ? Of the " porten- 
tous things " described by Casca ? 

206 



Act II, Scene 1. NoteS. 



3. What are some of the superstitions associated with the 
owl ? (Line 26.) 

4. What does the last speech of Casca (157-160) add to our 
knowledge of Brutus ? 

5. From what you now have seen of Cassius, describe his ap- 
pearance in some detail. 

6. How far has the plot been developed by this first act ? 

7. In what ways has Shakespeare aroused your interest and 
curiosity ? 

8. Judging by this first act, what part would you assign to the 
leading actor in your company of players ? What to the next ? 

ACT II 
Scene 1 

We must imagine that an hour or more has passed since the 
end of Act I, for it now is nearly daylight of the 15th of March. 
A little later Cassius hears a clock strike three. 

Brutus' orchard. We should say "Brutus' garden." Shake- 
speare uses these two words as synonyms. 

I. What, Lucius! "What" and "when'' (line 5 below) were 
common words of exclamation or calling, like our colloquial " Hi, 
there," or "Oh." When Shylock is leaving his house he calls to 
his daughter inside to come out and speak to him: "What, Jes- 
sica! . . . Why, Jessica, I say!" 

3. how near to day. We must supply "it is " 
7. taper. A sort of wick or small candle, probably made of 
wax. 

II. to spurn at him : to reject him, or almost " to strike at 
him." Later Caesar says, "I spurn thee like a cur out of my 
way," which is the more common use of the word. 

12. the general : the public, the community. 

14. It is the bright day, etc. Just as snakes come out to bask 
in the warm sun, so the "sunshine of royalty, — the dazzle of 
being king, — will kindle the serpent in Caesar." 

207 



Notes. Act II, Scene 1. 

15. that craves wary walking : that demands careful, watchful 
walking. Notice that here, and again at the end of his soliloquy 
(32-34) , Brutus has not forgotten his comparison of Caesar and 
a serpent. — that: be that so; suppose him crowned. 

17. do danger with : do what is dangerous, — like our expres- 
sions " do mischief," " do harm," " do wrong," etc. 

18. when it disjoins remorse : when it separates mercy, or 
pity, from power. 

20. his affections swayed : his emotions, or feelings, governed 
him more than his reason. 

21. a common proof : a common experience, a thing commonly 
proved. 

26. the base degrees : the lower steps, the lower rounds of the 
ladder. A degree is literally a " step down." 

28. prevent: anticipate, get ahead of him. 

28, 29. since the quarrel will bear no color, etc. That is, 
" Since our case against him cannot be justified by what he is 
now, let us state our argument thus," etc. Professor Hudson 
thus sums up Brutus' reasoning : " Since we have no apparent 
ground of complaint against Caesar in what he is, or in anything 
he has yet done, let us assume that the further addition of a 
crown will quite transform his nature, and make him a serpent." 

33. as his kind : like the rest of its kind, or species. 

34. kill him. That is, — let us, therefore, kill him in the shell. 

35. closet. This wordswas formerly used for any small room 
devoted to retirement, privacy, or study, and was not confined to 
a room for storing clothes or dishes. Here Lucius refers to Bru- 
tus' private study. (See line 7 above.) 

36. a flint. A piece of stone used with tinder for striking a 
fire. 

44. exhalations : meteors. The ancients believed that the 
sun drew vapor up from the earth and then exhaledii, or breathed 
it forth, in the form of meteors. 

47. redress : set right that which is wrong. 

48. Brutus, thou sleep^st. See note on I, 3, 146. 

208 



Act II, Scene 1. NoteS. 

50. I have took. Compare this with " mistook your passion " 
in I, 2j 48, and see note. 

53. My ancestors. This is a reference to Lucius Junius Brutus. 
See note to I, 3, 146. 

61. whet: excite, arouse, — literally, "sharpen/- as in the 
expression "to whet one's appetite." (Cf. whetsiont.) 

64. motion : impulse, motive. 

64, 65. the interim is like a phantasma : the time between is 
like a nightmare. 

66. The genius, etc. : the soul and the bodily powers ; the 
spiritual and physical powers ; the guardian angel of man and 
his passions, — iDut just exactly what Shakespeare meant by 
*' genius " and " mortal instruments " in this famous line will 
always remain a mystery. The editors have written pages upon 
these words. 

67. the state of man; the government of man. Man is 
compared to a kingdom, or state, in which civil war arises be- 
tween the various elements, — the " genius and the mortal 
instruments.'" 

69. The nature of : something like. 

70. your brother. Really brother-in-law, for Cassius had mar- 
ried Brutus' sister, Junia. 

72. moe : more, — frequent in Shakespeare. ^ 

Friends, I owe moe tears 
To this dead man than you shall see me pay. 

(V, 3,101.) 

73. their hats, etc. Here is another good illustration of 
Shakespeare's disregard of the costumes actually worn in Rome. 
" The Roman pileiis was a close fitting cap of felt without any 
brim, and the petasus was worn only to keep off the sun. 
Shakespeare dressed his Romans in the slouched hats of his 
own time." (Wright.) But does this make the least particle of 
difference in our enjoyment of the play, or injure its dramatic 
quality ? 

76. By any mark of favor : by a special distinction of 

209 



Notes. Act II, Scene 1. 



features. Do you remember when Cassius said to Brutus, " I do 
know your outward favor"? 

77. faction. A body of persons combined for a certain pur- 
pose, — here the conspirators. 

79. When evils are most free. That is, when crimes are most 
free from the law, — most unrestrained. 

82. affability : courteous words, gentle manners. 

83. path. Here the word is a verb and means to walk^ walk 
forth ; but it may be a printer's error. Put has been suggested 
by many of the critics. Fal/i as a verb, however, occurs in 
writers of Shakespeare's time. thy native semblance on : in 
thy true form. 

84. Erebus. This was a place of darkness, according to 
Greek mythology, part way between the earth and Hades ; but 
here, as often in literature, the term is applied vaguely to the 
lower world. 

85. prevention: discovery, — which would lead to prevention 
or inference. 

86. we are too bold, etc. : we are too bold thus to break in 
upon your rest. 

100. Shall I entreat a word : May I have a word with you ? 

104. fret: adorn, ornament with lines or pencillings. Ham- 
let speaks of " this majestical roof (the heavens) fretted with 
golden fire." 

107, 108. a great way growing, etc. The sun rises far to the 
south, considering the early time of year. Casca is rather in- 
accurate, for on March 15th the sun would rise almost exactly in 
the east. 

110. the high east: exact, or perfect, east, — as we say 
''^ high noon." 

112. your hands all over : all your hands once more. Brutus 
shook hands with the conspirators when they arrived; now 
after talking with Cassius he shakes hands with them all again. 

114. the face of men. Probably, the look of disapproval of 
Caesar in the faces of men. 

210 



Act II, Scene 1. NotCS. 



115. sufferance : suffering. 

116. break off betimes : lef s throw up the whole business at 
once. 

117. hence to his idle bed : go to bed and remain there idle. 
So we often say ^' a sick bed,'''' and Shakespeare in " Troilus and 
Cressida^' has "upon a lazy bedy 

114-118. The broken grammatical structure of these lines 
makes them a little difficult. Summed up, the meaning is : If the 
unspoken words in men's looks, together with our own suffering 
and the abuses of the time, are not sufficient motives for our 
conspiracy, let us give up our scheme, go home, and allow proud 
tyranny to flourish. 

119. drop by lottery. That is, "die at the mere whim of the 
tyrant, just as by the mere chance of a lottery." (Thorndike.) 
if these. That is, these three motives just enumerated. 

123. What : Why. The figure, of course, is from horseback 
riding, the source of many comparisons and figures in Shake- 
speare. How do you account for this? 

125. Than secret Romans : that of secret Romans. have 
spoke. Compare this with " have took " in line 50 above, and 
see note on I, 2, 48. 

126. palter: quibble, act trickily. 

129. cautelous : crafty, sly, — a rare word even in Shakespeare. 

130. carrions. Literally "carcasses." Here " men as good as 
dead." 

133. The even virtue : The calm, firm virtue. 

134. the insuppressive mettle : the nature of our spirits which 
cannot be suppressed. 

135. or our cause or. This construction, instead of either . . . 
or, occurs in English poetry as late as Tennyson. 

136. Did need : ever could need. 

138. a several bastardy: a special treason against his noble 
birth. 

144. his silver hairs. At this time Cicero was sixty years 
old. Of course Metellus remembers that he has just used 

2X1 



Notes. Act II, Scene 1. 

^^ silver" when in the next line he speaks oi purchasing good 
opinion," — that is, a good reputation, — and buying men's voices. 

148. Our youths, etc. That is, our light, uncontrolled youth 
shall not be in evidence at all. 

150. break with him : tell him, — as we say " break the news." 

157. of him: in him. In the previous line ^*^bf" = by. 
Notice other variations in the use of prepositions as you read the 
play. 

158. A shrewd contriver: an evil plotter or schemer. Ac- 
cording to Plutarch, all of the conspirators, except Brutus, wished 
to slay Antony as well as Caesar. 

164. envy : hatred, malice, — as usually in Shakespeare. 
So "envious'' in line 178 below means "malicious," "evil." 

169. come by : get hold of. 

175-178. Let our hearts rouse our hands to act, and then 
after the deed is done they may reprove them, just as clever 
masters arouse their servants to an outrageous act, and then find 
fault with them for doing it. What do you think of this advice? 

178. Our purpose necessary. That is, seem necessary and not 
malicious. 

180. purgers : cleansers, healers. They will heal Rome of its 
disease of tyranny. 

184. ingrafted love : love so deeply implanted that it has be- 
come a part of him. 

187. take thought and die. This was an old expression for 
"grieve one's self to death." In Elizabethan English " thought" 
often meant "worry," as in the New Testament, — "Take no 
thought for the morrow," which means, of course, " be not anxious 
or solicitous about the morrow." 

188. And that were much, etc. That would be a great deal 
for him to do, — as Brutus explains in the next line. 

190. no fear in him : nothing to be feared in him. Clock 
strikes. Clocks such as Shakespeare had in mind were unknown 
to the Romans ; thus we have here another anachronism. Can 
you explain it? 

212 



Act II, Scene 1. NotCS. 



192. stricken. Shakespeare also uses the forms ^^ struck'' and 
"strucken." We still use the word in such expressions as "he 
was stricken with the disease," and " the words were stricken 
from the record." 

196. Quite from the main opinion: wholly contrary to the 
strong opinion. 

197. fantasy : imagination. ceremonies: superstitious rites. 

198. apparent prodigies : manifest, clearly seen signs and omens. 
200. augurers, or augurs, were interpreters of omens, especially 

of those seen in the entrails of animals which were sacrificed to 
the gods. No Roman would set about an important undertaking 
without consulting the augurs for favorable omens. 

203. o'ersway : win him over, change his mind. 

204. According to early stories, the unicorn in its fury would 
drive its horn into a tree behind which the hunter had dodged 
for safety, and before it broke free again was captured or killed. 
Bears were supposed to be easily shot while they remained 
motionless, gazing into a mirror that had been set up to attract 
them. Elephants were captured by means of pitfalls, covered 
with straw or leaves, and lions were snared with nets or toils. 

208. flattered. Pronounced y?^/-/^r-^</. Do you see why? 

210. humor: state of mind, temper. The word '^ humor" is 
used by Shakespeare in many different senses, some of which are 
not familiar to us to-day. 

213. the uttermost : the very latest. We probably would say 
"latest" or "utmost." 

215. doth bear Caesar hard : bears ill-wilL toward Caesar, hates 
Caesar. Do you remember where Casshis said, "Caesar doth 
bear me hard " ? 

216. rated : reproved, berated. 

218. go along by him : go home by way of his house. 

219. given him reasons. That is, for caring for Brutus. 

220. fashion him : mould him, win him to our cause. 

225. our looks put on, etc. Let not our looks put on an ex- 
pression that will betray or reveal our plans. 

213 



Notes. Act II, Scene 1. 

227. formal constancy: unbroken, unchanged dignity of out- 
ward appearance ; " dignified self-possession." 

230. honey-heavy dew, etc. '' Slumber as refreshing as dew, 
and whose heaviness is sweet." (Wright.) Notice the com- 
pactness and suggested pictures in Shakespeare's one phrase. 

231. no figures nor no fantasies. That is, '' Thou hast no pic- 
tures or fancies created by the imagination." Double negative 
constructions (nor . . . no) were common in the English of 
Shakespeare's time. 

238. Stole. Compare this form with "broke" for "broken," 
" wrote " for " written," which occur frequently in the plays. 

246. wafture : wave. A rare word, used only here by Shake- 
speare. 

248. impatience. Four syllables, iin-pa-ti-ence^ like de-struc- 
ti'On in I, 3, 13, q,v. 

250. humor. Here, "caprice" or some "whim." In Hne 262 
below we find still another meaning of this word. 

251. his : its, — as often in Elizabethan English. 

253. shape: physical appearance in contrast to "condition" 
in the next line. 

254. prevailed on your condition : influenced or changed your 
state of mind. 

255. Dear my lord. Shakespeare has this peculiar order in 
other' terms of address, such cs " Sweet my mother," and "Good 
my lord." 

261. physical : good for the health, wholesome. 

262. unbraced : with clothes unfastened. Dp you remember 
where Cassius walked " unbraced," and " bared his bosom to the 
thunder-storm"? humors: mists, moisture. 

263. dank: damp. Which of these words is the more poetic? 
266. rheumy: damp, causing catarrh or rheu7n2X\^m. . un- 

purg^d air : foul air ; air that has not yet been purified by the 
sun's rays. 

268. some sick offence. That is, some grief that makes you 
sick. 

214 



Act II, Scene 1. NoteS. 



271. charm: conjure, entreat. Do you think Pope^s alteration 
of this word to " charge " a necessary or wise change ? 

273. incorporate. The next four words almost translate this 
expression. 

275. heavy : sad, — as we say ** a heavy heart," " a light heart." 

281. Is it excepted, etc. " Is there an exception made that I 
should not know your secrets ? " 

283. in sort or limitation : only after a fashion, and in a lim- 
ited way. Notice here, and often in this play, the compactness 
of Shakespeare's language, — the extensive meaning pressed into 
a word or two. 

285. the suburbs. That is, in the outskirts, not in the center 
of your heart. 

287. harlot : mistress. 

289, 290. the ruddy drops that visit, etc. Harvey's discovery 
of* the laws governing the circulation of the blood were not pub- 
lished until twelve years after Shakespeare's death, though much 
earlier, as these words clearly show, men had begun to have 
notions that such a circulation prevailed. 

295. well -reputed : of good name; honorable. Cato's daugh- 
ter. Portia was the daughter of Marcus Cato, sometimes called 
" the last of the Romans," because of his struggle to bring back to 
Rome a republican form of government. His hatred of Caesar 
led him to commit suicide after that great imperial leader had 
defeated the followers of Pompey. 

299. constancy: firmness. 

300. a voluntary wound. Portia wounded herself with a knife 
to test, by her power to endure physical pain, her ability to keep 
her husband's secrets. This incident — indeed, the whole inter- 
view between Brutus and Portia — follows Plutarch very closely. 
See page 1 12 for a comparison of the historian and the dramatist. 

307. construe : explain, interpret. 

308. All the charactery of my sad brows, etc. : all the marks of 
sadness on my countenance. 

312. how ? Brutus utters this as an exclamation rather than 

215 



Notes. Act II, Scene 1. 



as a question. He is surprised to see Ligarius wearing a " ker- 
chief." 

313. Vouchsafe good morrow : deign^ or condescend, to accept 
good morning. 

315. kerchief. Used here in its literal meaninor, — a covering: 
for the head. It was evidently the custom in Shakespeare^s time 
for sick men to wear such head-coverings. 

323. an exorcist : one who raises spirits, a conjurer. 

324. My mortified spirit. That is, my spirit that was dead. 
331. To whom: To him to whom. Set on your foot: go 

ahead. In I, 2, 1 1, Caesar used a similar expression : " Set on ; 
and leave no ceremony out." 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What does Lucius add to this scene? Would you omit 
his part as unnecessary to the main action? 

2. In what ways has Brutus changed since we saw him in Act 
I? 

3. What opinion do you form of Brutus from his soliloquies 
in this scene? Do they increase your respect for him or not? 
Why? 

4. Why do you think the poet has Brutus ask Lucius about 
" the ides of March " ? 

5. What is the purpose and effect of having Brutus and 
Cassius whisper aside? (loi-i 1 1.) What do you think they talk 
about ? 

6. Point out and comment upon Shakespeare's skill in man- 
aging the other actors on the stage during the whispered con- 
ference between Brutus and Cassius. 

7. Have you any definite knowledge, before Brutus speaks in 
line 112, of his decision as to the conspiracy? 

8. What are the objections to including Cicero in the con- 
spiracy ? 

9. What do you think of Brutus' arguments to spare Mark 
Antony? Do you agree with him or with Cassius? 

2X6 



Act II, Scene 2. NotCS. 

10. How do you explain the words, ^'The clock hath stricken 
three," when clocks, as we know them, did not exist in Caesar's 
time? 

11. What is there effective in lines 229-233? Do these 
words increase your admiration for Brutus or not? 

12. What impression does the scene between Portia and 
Brutus leave with you? Would you omit it in a modern pres- 
entation of the play on the stage ? 

13. What is there heroic in Portia's character? Bassanio in 
" The Merchant of Venice " says of the heroine. 

Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued 
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia. 

14. In what ways does Portia fulfil your idea of the noble 
Roman matron? 

15. Describe the setting of the conspiracy in Brutus' orchard, 
and point out the elements that make this one of the finest 
scenes in English drama. 

ACT II 

Scene 2 

The story of Calpurnia's crying out in her sleep, of the ill 
omens announced by the augurs, and of Caesar's irresolution, 
is all in Plutarch, and is not exaggerated by the poet. This 
scene between Calpurnia and Caesar and the similar one be- 
tween Portia and Brutus should be compared with reference to 
differences of character in the actors which the dialogue brings 
to light. 

It is now nearly eight o'clock, and the ides of March has 
come. 

night-gown : Not in its modern sense, but " dressing-gown," 
as usually in Shakespeare. 

1. Nor heaven nor earth : neither heaven, etc., — like ^' or our 
cause or our performance " in the previous scene (II, i, 135 and 
note). 

217 



Notes. Act II, Scene 2. 

5. do present sacrifice : perform the sacrifices at once. 

6. their opinions of success : That is, their opinions as to the 
outcome, — as to what will succeed or happen, — if Caesar goes 
forth. 

10. Caesar shall forth: Shakespeare often omits the verb 
" go " in this and similar expressions. Later we find " We'll 
along ourselves '' ; " We must out and talk '' ; "I will myself 
into the pulpit " ; etc. 

13. stood on ceremonies : regarded omens or prophecies. 

16. the watch : the watchman, — a familiar figure in Shake- 
speare's London, though not in Caesar's Rome. 

20. right form of war : regular battle array. 

22. hurtled : crashed, clashed. 

24. ghosts did shriek, etc. Ghosts were believed to have the 
power of speech, as we see later in this play. In connection 
with these lines, it is interesting to read the w^ords of Horatio in 
" Hamlet," a tragedy written about the same time as " Julius 
Caesar." 

In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 

A little ere the mightiest JuHus fell. 

The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead 

Did squeak and gibber in the Ronian streets. 

25. all use : all custom, all we are used to. 

27. Whose end is purposed: the completion of which is 
planned by the gods. 

29. Are to the world, etc. That is, these prophecies apply 
just as much to the world in general as they do to Caesar. 

37. augurers : augurs, priests who read the omens, especially 
the entrails of animals. See line 200 of the last scene, and note. 

42. should. In modern usage this would be " would," but it 
was the regular form for the simple future in EUzabethan English. 

46. We. That is. Danger (personified) and I. 

56. humor: caprice, whim, — as in II, i, .150. 

73. satisfaction. Pronounced sat-is-fac-ti-on. Do you see 
why? 

218 



Act II, Scene 2. NotCS. 



76. to-night: last night, as in III, 3, i. "I dreamt to- 
night that I did feast with Caesar '' ; and Shylock in " The Mer- 
chant of Venice " says, 

For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 

More often the poet uses the word in its present meaning. 

76. statue. Pronounced here, and again in act III, as a three 
syllable word, — sta-tu-a. How should it be treated in line 85 
below ? 

78. lusty : vigorous, robust. Where did Cassius speak of 
" lusty sinews " ? 

80, 81. portents, and evils imminent : signs and approaching 
dangers. 

83. all amiss interpreted. That is, the meaning of your 
dream has been explained entirely incorrectly. 

89. tinctures : stains. This is an allusion to the old custom 
of dipping handkerchiefs in the blood of great men, especially of 
saints and martyrs, and then preserving them as relics. cog- 
nizance : memorial, badge. 

96, 97. a mock apt to be rendered : a sneering reply likely to 
be made. 

103. To your proceeding. That is, my love for, or interest 
in, your advancement, — your career. 

104. reason to my love, etc. Reason (which would have kept 
me from speaking so frankly) is subject to, subordinate to, my 
love. Or, as Rolfe puts it, "- My love leads me to indulge in a 
freedom of speech that my reason would restrain." (Notice 
here again how much the poet puts into a phrase of six words.) 

113. ague (a'gue) : fever. 

114. 'tis strucken eight. Five hours earlier, Cassius said, 
"The clock hath stricken three." (See II, i, 192 and note.) 
Notice throughout this part of the play the exact time of each 
important event that develops the plot is stated exactly. See 
II, 4, 22. 

116. long 0* nights. Where did Caesar speak of men who 
^^ sleep o' nights "? 

219 



Notes. Act II, Scene 2. 

118. So to, etc. Much as we familiarly say, " The same to 
you ! " 

120. what, Trebonius! Like the exclamatory, impatient 
" what " at the opening of Act II, 

What, Lucius, ho! 

128. That every like, etc. That is, to be like a friend is not 
to be a friend. Brutus, of course, is referring to the words Caesar 
has just spoken. 

129. yearns : grieves, pains, — as always in Shakespeare. 
Brutus here, just for a moment, seems to have a pang of remorse. 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Compare Caesar's superstitions here with those of I, 2. 
Why do you think Shakespeare makes so much of them in the 
play ? 

2. Is it Calpurnia or the report from the augurers that deter- 
mines Caesar to remain at home? Give reasons for your de- 
cision. 

3. What opinion do you form of Calpurnia? Do you like her 
as well as Portia? Contrast the two. 

4. What are the arguments of Decius Brutus to induce Caesar 
to ^* come forth"? 

5. What do you think of Caesar's sudden change of mind as 
to the augurers' warning? Is it flattery alone that wins him? 

6. How do you account for Calpurnia's silence while Decius 
is persuading Caesar to come to the Senate ? 

7. How would you have Calpurnia look and act when Caesar 
decides to go forth ? 

8. Does Decius Brutus impress you as a heroic, noble-spirited 
man in this scene ? Can you defend him for his deception ? 

9. Do Caesar's words and actions in this scene raise him or 
lower him in your estimation? 

10. Are your sympathies at this point with Caesar or the con- 
spirators ? Give your reasons in detail. 

220 



Act II, Scene 4. NotCS. 



11. What new glimpse do we get here of Antony's character? 
(116,117.) 

12. Why are the last two lines of the scene usually omitted on 
the stage to-day? 

ACT II 
Scene 3 

7. security gives way to. Over-confidence makes a way for 
conspiracy. Have we seen anything to show that Caesar was 
wholly confident of his own security ? 

8. lover: friend, — as frequently in Shakespeare. So later 
Brutus calls the citizens '' Romans, countrymen, and lovers ! " 
and in " The Merchant" Lorenzo speaks of Antonio as '^ a lover ^^ 
of Bassanio. 

12. Out of the teeth of emulation : safe from the teeth of 
jealousy; "free from the attacks of envy." 
14. contrive : conspire, plot. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Of what incidents earlier in the play does this scene remind 
you? 

2. Why do you think this short scene is often omitted when 
presenting the play to-day? 

3. Do you see any good reason for having the warning written 
in prose, but the words of Artemidorus that follow in verse ? 

4. Describe Artemidorus as you imagine his appearance and 
dress. 

ACT II 

Scene 4 

Nearly an hour has passed since the conspirators entered Cae- 
sar's house to " taste some wine " with him ; and the time draws 
on when they are to escort him to the senate-house. 

221 



Notes. Act II, Scene 4. 

1. prithee. A contraction of "pray thee." 

6. constancy : resolution, firmness. Do you remember where 
Portia said, 

I have made strong proof of my constancy ? 

9. to keep counsel : to keep a secret. 

14. went sickly forth : went out looking sick. 

18. rumor: murmur, noise. I hear a noise of some excite- 
ment, like a struggle. 

20. sooth: truly, indeed. Remember the opening line of 
" The Merchant of Venice " : 

In sooth I know not why I am so sad. 

Enter the Soothsayer. This is the same man that interrupted 
Caesar's procession at the beginning of the play with the cry, 
" Beware the ides of March ! " There is no reason for believing 
him to be Artemidorus, as some of the editors wish to make him. 
Why is it better to have two distinct persons try to warn Caesar? 

34. praetors : city magistrates. 

36. I'll get me to a place more void. That is, 111 move along to 
a more open place, — in contrast to the *-' narrower street " where 
he now stands talking with Portia. 

38. Ay me: alas. 

41. Brutus hath a suit, etc. These words are evidently spoken 
to Lucius to allay any suspicion that may arise from her exclama- 
tion : *^ The heavens speed thee in thy enterprise ! " For a mo- 
ment she had forgotten the boy's presence. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Comment upon the great change that has come over Portia 
since we last saw her. How do you account for it? 

2. What contrast is there between her feelings and those of 
Lucius? How does the dramatist make this contrast striking? 

3. From her conversation with the soothsayer, what do you 
think is in Portia's mind? Has Brutus told her the plans of the 
conspirators, or is she merely suspicious ? 

222 



Act III, Scene 1. Notes. 



4. How do you explain Portia's words, — 

Brutus hath a suit 
That Caesar will not grant ? 

Is this said aside or to Lucius? 

5. Why do you suppose Shakespeare wrote this scene ? Does 
it add anything to the plot of the tragedy? Would you omit it 
on the stage to-day? 

ACT III 
Scene 1 

It is a little after nine o'clock in the morning of the ides of 
March. The outcome of the conspiracy is approaching, and 
with it the first great climax of the tragedy. 

Flourish. Notice that here, as in Act I, z.flourishy or notes on 
a trumpet, precedes the entrance of Caesar and a formal proces- 
sion of nobles. This, again, was an English rather than'a Roman 
custom. 

2. Ay : yes, — pronounced like " I . " In line 38 of the previous 
scene the word is used in a different sense. 

8. us ourself. The poet here has Caesar assume the language 
of royalty. Do you see why? served: presented, — as in the 
expression "to serve a summons." 

18. he makes to : he advances or presses toward. 

19. Be sudden, for, etc. : Be quick, for we fear interference. 

21. Cassius or Caesar, etc. That is, one of us two shall not 
return alive, for I will slay myself if we do not succeed in killing 
him. 

22. constant : firm, as already twice in the play. 

28. presently : immediately. 

29. addressed : ready. 

33. puissant: powerful, — pronounced here in two syllables 
instead of three as to-day. 

36. couchings. Same as crouchings. 

223 



Notes. Act III, Scene 1. 



38. pre-ordinance and first decree: that which has been or- 
dained and decreed from the beginning. Notice the grandilo- 
quence, — the '' big talk,^' — of Caesar in this passage. 

39. the law of children. That is, into childish laws, — un- 
stable, liable to change. Be not fond : be not so foolish as to 
think, etc. ; fond: foolish, simple, silly, as frequently in Shake- 
speare. 

Grant I may never prove so fond 
To trust man on his oath or bond. 

(^^Timon of Athens.") 
41, 42. That will be thawed, etc. As will be softened or 
changed from its true nature by that sort of pleading which melts 
fools. /' 

43. Low-crooked courtesies. Curtsies in which the knee is 
crouched or bent low. 

46. I spurn thee, etc. Shylock in "The Merchant " says to 
Antonio, " You . . . foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over 
your threshold." Where did Brutus say, "I know no personal 
cause to spurn at him " ? 

47, 48. Know, Caesar doth not wrong, etc. To the student of 
Shakespeare these are two of the most interesting lines in the 
play, for they seem to be an alteration of the words as they stood 
in the tragedy when it was acted in i6oi, and the change may 
be traced to a criticism by the poet's friend, Ben Jonson. In his 
"Discoveries " Jonson says of Shakespeare, "Many times he fell 
into those things [that] could not escape laughter, as when he 
said . . . , ^ Caesar, thou dost me wrong,' Caesar replied, ' Caesar 
did never wrong but with just cause.' " If Jonson is quoting the 
lines as he actually heard them at the theatre, it may be that his 
ridicule of them in " Discoveries" resulted in their being altered 
to the form we find in the Folio, that is, as they stand here in 
our text. Some of the editors have even gone so far as to print 
Jonson's quotation as being the words that Shakespeare really 
wrote. 

51. repealing: recalling, — and so " repeal'' four lines further 
( n. 

224 



Act III, Scene 1. Notes. 

57. enfranchisement : the rights of citizenship. 

60. constant : fixed, firm, — as in line 22 above. 

61. resting : steadfast. 

62. fellow : equal, — as often in Shakespeare. 

67. apprehensive : endowed with apprehension, — hence, in- 
telligent, quick of mind. 

69, 70. holds on his rank, unshaked, etc. : " continues to ^ hold 
his place ' (like the star), resisting every attempt to move him." 
(Rolfe.) 

74. wilt thou lift up Olympus ? That is, "- Wilt thou attempt 
what is impossible ? " It is significant, and in keeping with his 
style of speech here, that Caesar should compare himself with 
Olympus, the great mountain in Greece which was the abode 
of the gods. 

75. bootless kneel : kneel in vain. 

76. Speak, hands, for me! Brutus, Cassius, Cinna, and 
Decius have spoken in behalf of Metellus' brother with words. 
So far Casca has said nothing, but now he calls upon his hands 
to speak instead of his tongue. Remember it was agreed (line 30) 
that Casca should be the first to strike. 

77. Et tu, Brute! ^^And thou, too, Brutus!" There seems 
to be no ancient authority for these famous words. They do 
not occur in Plutarch ; but, as has been pointed out many times, 
this very exclamation is found in two different works which were 
printed shortly before Shakespeare wrote "Julius Caesar." Thus 
in " The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke,'' printed six 
or seven years before our play was acted, Edward cries to Clar- 
ence, " Et tu. Brute, wilt thou stab Caesar too ? " 

80. the common pulpits. The pulpits, or rostra, from which 
speakers addressed the people of Rome. 

90. good cheer. Much as we say, "Cheer up!" 

92. Nor to no Roman else. Another double negative construc- 
tion like "Yet ^twas not a crown neither^'' (I, 2, 236), and '''No 
figures nor no fantasies" (II, i, 231). 

95. abide : be held responsible for, suffer for. 

225 



Notes. Act III, Scene 1. 

99. As it were doomsday : as though it were the Day of Judg- 
ment. 

100. 'tis but the time, etc. "How long we can draw out 
our life, is the only question we concern ourselves about." 
(Hudson.) 

107. let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood. Remember 
Calpurnia's dream in which she saw " many lusty Romans " bath- 
ing their hands in Caesar's blood. 

113. this our lofty scene : this scene of our great deed. 

116. on Pompey's basis lies along : lying prostrate at the base 
of Pompey's statue. 

118. the knot of us : our band. 

120. shall we forth ? The verb " go " is omitted, as in " Cae- 
sar shall forth" (II, 2, lo). 

' 122. most boldest. Another double superlative like this occurs 
later : " This was the most unkindest cut of all," and a similar 
double comparative often quoted is Shylock's " How much more 
elder art thou than thy looks!" ('^The Merchant of Venice," 
IV, I, 240.) 

123. Soft!: But wait! Stop! — an exclamation common in 
Elizabethan plays. 

131. vouchsafed : grant, permit. 

132. resolved : informed, satisfied. 

137. Thorough. Shakespeare uses this spelling (pronounced 
in two syllables) and also throicgh. In "The Merchant" he has 
" through fares " where we should use "thoroughfares." the 
hazards of this untrod state : the risks of this unexplored state of 
affairs. 

141. so please him come. Expanded to its full form this would 
be, " If it so be that it please him to come." 

143. presently: at once, immediately, — as in line 28 above, 
and generally in Shakespeare. 

144. to friend : as a friend, — an idiom we still use in the ex- 
pression "to take, or have, to wife." 

146, 147. my misgiving still, etc. : my suspicions always hit 

226 



Act III, Scene 1. NoteS. 

the mark ; things always happen just about as I expect they will. 
6*//// usually means always in Shakespeare's English. 

153. be let blood. That is, be bled, referring to the ancient 
custom of bleeding people for all kinds of ailments, whence the 
word " leech " for a doctor. Here, of course, Antony really 
means "bled to death" or killed. rank: too full of blood or 
life, and therefore needing to be "let blood." Johnson explains 
rank as "grown too high for public safety," as we speak oi rank 
grass or rank weeds. 

158. bear me hard : bear me any ill-will. Where did Cassius 
say that Caesar bore him hard ? 

159. reek: smoke, steam, — with Caesar's hot blood. 

160. Live: If I live, — just as Portia says to Bassanio, "Live 
thou, I live," when he is about to make his choice of the caskets. 
(" The Merchant," III, 2, 6i.) 

161. so apt : so ready, so fit. 

162. mean : means. Shakespeare uses both singular and plu- 
ral forms. 

163. by Caesar. That is, here near Caesar, referring to the 
place where he would wish to die. Antony then plays upon this 
meaning of " by " in his next few words. 

168. we do. That is, "we do appear bloody and cruel." 
170. pitiful. Not pathetic J but literally " full of pity or com- 
passion." 

172. As fire drives out fire. This was a familiar saying. It is 
an allusion to the old custom of taking the pain out of a burn by 
holding it up to the fire. Thus in " Romeo and Juliet " Benvolio 
says to Romeo : 

Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning, 
One pain is lessened by another's anguish. 

174. leaden points in contrast to sharp iron points. That is, 
"our swords to you are harmless." 

175. Our arms in strength of malice, etc. " Our arms, even in 
the intensity of their hatred for Caesar's tyranny, and our hearts 
in their brotherly love for all Romans, do receive you in." 

227 



Notes. Act III, Scene 1. 

(White.) Or, as explained by Professor Neilson, " Our arms, 
though their strength has just been manifested in what seems 
maUce, and our hearts in genuine brotherly affection, do receive 
you." The passage has been freely altered by the critics to get rid 
of '' malice," which seems to them to be a blunder. " Welcome " 
and " amity'' are two of the words suggested in place of " malice." 

182. deliver : declare, relate, tell. 

193. conceit : conceive of, think of, judge. So earlier in the 
play Cassius said to Casca, " You have right well conceited 
Brutus." 

197. dearer : more intensely. Shakespeare often uses " dear " 
in the older sense of " keen," " heartfelt," '^ coming home to one 
closely." 

203. close: agree, make a compact, — as in our expression 
"to" close an agreement." 

205. bayed : brought to bay, cornered. The picture is that 
of a deer, or hart, hemmed in by the hounds. Notice how 
Antony carries on this figure in the next fiwQ lines. 

207. Signed in thy spoil : bearing the marks of thy destruc- 
tion, z\e, covered with blood. Hunters sometimes dipped their 
hands in the blood of the slaughtered game. thy lethe : thy 
slaughter. In Greek mythology Lethe was the river of Oblivion, 
or Forgetfulness, in the lower world. From it all souls drank 
before passing to Elysium, that they might forget the sorrows of 
this world. Thus the expression ^' crimsoned in thy lethe " may 
be rendered " crimsoned, in the stream that bears thee to ob- 
livion, — to Heaven." This interpretation, however, seems far 
fetched, and the word remains a puzzle to the critics. 

209. the heart of thee. Notice the play on the words '^ heart " 
and " hart." The same pun occurs in " As You Like It " : 

Celia : He was furnished like a hunter. 

Rosalind: O, ominous ! He comes to kill my heart. 

210. strucken. We have already had the expressions " 'Tis 
strucken eight," and '* The clock hath stricken three." Can you 
find them? 

228 



Act III, Scene 1. NotCS 



214. cold modesty : moderation. 

217. pricked : marked, — as in IV, i : *' Their names are 
pricked.'' A pin, or some other sharp point, was formerly used 
instead of a pencil or pen to mark off names on a list. 

220. Swayed from the point : turned from the subject in 
hand. 

225. full of good regard : entitled to favorable consideration. 

229. Produce: carry, bear forth, — the literal meaning of the 
Latin prodiico. the market-place. By this Shakespeare of 
course means the Forum, in which there were several rostra^ or 
pulpits, as the poet calls them, for addressing the people. 

231. in the order of : in the course of the funeral ceremonies. 

236. By your pardon : Excuse me, let me explain. 

243. advantage more than do us wrong. That is, letting 
Antony speak will help us more than harm us. 

244. fall : happen, htfall, 

258. in the tide of times. That is, in the ebb and flow, — in 
the ever changing course, — of the times. 

259. costly: precious, rare. 

263. the limbs of men. We should be more likely to say 
" the heads of men." Many substitutes for " limbs " have been 
suggested by doubting editors, such as, " sons," '" lives," " times," 
"tombs," "minds," etc. Do you think any change is necessary? 

265. cumber: burden, oppress, — more common to-day in the 
form encumber. 

266. so in use : so usual, so common. 

269. quartered with : torn to pieces by the hands of war. 

270. All pity choked, etc. : All sense of pity being choked 
by the frequency of cruel deeds. 

271. ranging: wandering over the earth. 

272. Ate. In Greek mythology the goddess of discord and 
vengeance. 

273. these confines : these regions ; within the confines of 
this empire. 

274. "Havoc." It is said that in battles of ancient times this 

229 



Notes. Act III, Scene 1. 

cry was the signal that no quarter was to be given to prisoners, 
let slip the dogs of war. Here Antony comes back once more to 
the language of hunting. (See lines 205-211 above.) To "let 
slip" a dog was to release it from the leash when it was time to 
begin the pursuit. It has been suggested that "the dogs of 
war " are fire^ sword^ and fainine^ for in " Henry V " the poet 
says of the warlike king, 

and, at his heels, 
Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire 
Crouch for employment. 

275. That: so that, — as often in Shakespeare. 

276. With carrion men : with the decaying bodies of men. 
284. Passion, I see, is catching : Emotion, sorrow, I see, is 

contagious. 

290. No Rome of safety. Possibly we have here again the 
pun that Cassius made in I, 2, 156: "Now is it T?^?;//^ indeed 
and r^^;;^ enough." 

295. issue: deed, or ^^ result of the action" of these bloody 
men. 

296. According to the which : according to which way they 
take my oration. 

298. Lend me your hand. As there was no curtain at the 
front of the stage in Shakespeare^s theatre, the body of Caesar 
must be removed by some of the actors before the scene closes. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What is the effect of the reference again (line i) to the 
" ides of March " ? 

2. Explain the crisis when Artemidorus tries to present his 
schedule. How would you manage the scene between Decius 
and Artemidorus? 

3. Why do you think Shakespeare has Popilius say, " I wish 
your enterprise to-day may thrive''? What do these words 
suggest ? 

230 



Act III, Scene 2. NotCS. 

4. How would an audience naturally be influenced by the 
uncertainty of the conspiracy during the first lines of the scene? 

5. Are your sympathies at this point with Caesar or with the 
conspirators? How does the dramatist wish the audience to feel? 

6. Point out how skilfully the poet gathers the conspirators 
about Caesar for the fatal blow. Do you feel that this scene is 
natural and convincing? 

7. What effect upon our feelings for Caesar does his last 
speech have? (Lines 58-73.) Is it in keeping with his words 
in II, 2? 

8. What is the signal to strike? Are the words significant? 
Can you suggest any reason for having Casca rather than Brutus 
or Cassius speak them? 

9. What do you believe are Brutus' thoughts as he uses his 
dagger? How would you have him look at this moment and 
directly after ? 

10. Why is it that none of the senators rush to Caesar's aid? 
Explain the situation in detail as you imagine it. 

11. W^hat was Antony's purpose, in your judgment, when he 
sent the messenger to the conspirators? Why did he not go to 
them himself? 

12. What do you think of Antony's action in pretending to 
join the conspirators? Was it justifiable? 

13. Does Shakespeare mean to have Antony win the sympa- 
thy of the audience? Does he succeed? 

14. What is your opinion of Antony's speech when left alone 
with Caesar's body? (Lines 255-277.) 

ACT III 

Scene 2 

The scene of the famous speeches to the citizens of Rome, — 
two of the most widely known passages in all Shakespeare. 
Notice that Brutus speaks with studied plainness of manner, 
disdaining oratorical tricks and presenting his case with fewest 

231 



Notes. Act III, Scene 2. 

possible words. He believes that his cause is plainly right and 
needs no defence. He tries to seem to have brought no passion 
to his deed as assassin. Antony, on the contrary, uses all the 
tricks of a mob leader. He is overwhelmed with grief and apolo- 
gizes for his emotion, which, however, he displays before the 
people with clever effect. He evidently understands his audience 
better than does Brutus. 

It is still the ides of March, a few hours perhaps after Caesar's 
death. Up to this point the conspirators have carried everything 
before them, but in this scene the tide turns and the spirit of 
Caesar begins to work out its revenge. 

4. part the numbers : divide the crowd. 

7. And public reasons, etc. : And reasons for Caesar's death 
shall be publicly set forth. 

11. is ascended. We should say ^' has ascended." The poet 
frequently uses forms of "be " with verbs that to-day take "have," 
as later (V, 3, 25) " my life is run his compass." 

13. lovers: friends, — as often in Shakespeare. So in 44 be- 
low, " I slew my best lover ^''' and " Thy lover Artemidorus " (II, 

3,8). 

15. have respect to : consider, look to. 

16. censure: judge, — not "find fault with." 

26. There is tears. This construction, common enough in 
Shakespeare's time, has already occurred in the play. Do you 
remember " Three parts of him zs ours " ? " There'j two or three 
of us " ? " Is Decius and Trebonius there " ? 

29. bondman : slave. Where did Casca say, 

So every bondman in his own hand bears 
The power to cancel his captivity? 

36, 37. The question of his death, etc. That is, a statement 
of the reasons why Cassar was put to death is placed in the official 
records of the Capitol. 

38. extenuated : lessened, diminished. enforced. Here just 
the opposite of extenuated, — that is, enlarged, exaggerated. 

42. the commonwealth. According to Cassius, while Caesar 

232 



Act III, Scene 2. NotCS 



lived, all Romans were '' bondmen '' ; now that he is dead, Brutus 
believes that the commonwealth will be restored. 
52. clamors : cheers. 

57. Do grace to : honor, pay respect to. 

58. Tending to : indicating, touching upon. 

61. Save I alone. Shakespeare often uses the nominative case 
of pronouns after prepositions where modern grammatical usage 
demands the objective. See "save only he*' in V, 5, 69. 

65. I am beholding: I am beholden, or under obligations to 
you. Notice the marked contrast between Antony's style and 
that of Brutus. 

74. to bury CaBsar. The Romans burned their dead. Shake- 
speare is speaking to an Enghsh audience and thinks of English 
manners and customs, as when he speaks of the cojin in 106 
below. 

76. oft interred : often buried. 

89. the general coffers: the public treasury. In "The Mer- 
chant" Portia speaks of the treasury of Venice as "the privy 
coffer of the state." 

103. withholds you then to mourn : keeps you from mourning. 

114. dear abide it: dearly pay for it. Where did Brutus say, 
" Let no man abide (suffer for) this deed But we the doers " ? 

120. so poor to do : so poor as to do, etc. Antony says there 
are now none so poor or humble but that Csesar is too low for 
their regard. 

129. closet : room, private study, — as in II, i, 35, where Lucius 
said to Brutus, "The taper burneth in your closed, sir." 

130. the commons : the common people. 
133. napkins : handkerchiefs. 

137. issue : children, descendants. 

141. meet : fitting, proper. 

150. I have o'ershot myself. That is, I have gone too far 
I have spoken more than I should. To overshoot is to shoot 
beyond, or over, the mark. 

165. hearse : bier, coffin. 

^33 



Notes. Act III, Scene 2. 

167, xar: further, — as often in Shakespeare. 

168. Bear back : fall back, move further away. 

173. That day he overcame the Nervii. Caesar tells of his great 
victory over the Nervii, '' the stoutest warriors of all the Belgae," 
in the second book of his " GalHc War." Perhaps none of his 
conquests had contributed more to his fame and popularity with 
the common people of Rome, who looked upon him as their great 
military hero. 

176. envious: malicious, spiteful. (Cf. II, i, 178.) 

179. resolved : informed, assured. Where did Antony send 
to Brutus to " be resolved How Caesar hath deserved to lie in 
death"? 

181. angel. That is, Brutus was one whom Caesar could trust 
as he would his guardian angel. Possibly angel is equivalent here 
merely to ^^ best-loved friend," "favorite." 

183. most unkindest cut. Cassius used a similar double super- 
lative when he spoke of "the most boldest and best hearts of 
Rome." (See III, i, 122 and note.) 

194. dint : impression, influence. 

197. marred . . . with : mangled by. 

213. private griefs : personal grievances. 

221. wit: understanding. 

222. utterance : gift of speech. Antonyms repeated assertion 
that he is not eloquent is summed up by his " I only speak right 
on." 

243. every several : each separate, seventy-five drachmas. 
This is the sum given by Plutarch. The drachma was a Greek 
coin, worth approximately twenty cents ; but of course the pur- 
chasing value of the fifteen dollars left by Caesar to each citizen 
was far greater then than it would be to-day. 

249. orchards : gardens, — as in the stage direction of II, i. 

250. On this side Tiber. Caesar's gardens were in reality on 
the right bank of the river, or beyond the Tiber. Shakespeare 
copied the error from North's incorrect translation of Plutarch, 
left them you. The " you " is placed out of its natural order, and 



Act III, Scene 2. NotCS. 

at the end of the line, for emphasis. Contrast this arrangement 
of the words with "he hath left you them." 

252. To walk abroad, etc. : For walking out and refreshing 
yourselves. 

260. forms : seats, benches. 

267. He comes upon a wish. That is, he comes just at the 
time I most wished or desired. Fortune is merry. As we say, 
"Fortune smiles upon us.-' 

270. Are rid : have ridden. (We still use both chid and chid- 
den as past participles of "chide."') 

271. Belike they had, etc. : Probably they had some informa- 
tion of how I had moved, or stirred up, the people. 

272. Bring : escort, accompany. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Why do you think Shakespeare allows us to hear the speech 
of Brutus rather than that given by Cassius ? 

2. Do you believe that Cassius was more or less successful 
than Brutus in addressing the mob ? 

3. Do you see any reasons for having Brutus speak in prose? 
(Notice the form of Antony's oration, beginning with line 'j'^.^ 

4. What are the most striking qualities of Brutus' speech? 
How would it have affected you had you been in the crowd? 

5. Contrast the opening w^ords of the speeches made by Brutus 
and Antony to the citizens. Which is the more appealing? 

6. Point out several ways in which Antony shows greater 
knowledge of human nature than does Brutus, — also greater 
skill as an orator. 

7. What is the effect of Antony's pause at line 107? Is this 
merely an oratorical trick ? 

8. What do you feel is the most successful point made by 
Antony ? 

9. What is the effect of Antony's repeated reference to the 
" honorable Brutus " ? How would you read these words through- 
out the speech ? 



Notes. Act III, Scene 3. 

10. Can you explain why Brutus had no lasting effect with the 
citizens ? Would he have been more successful had he followed 
Antony ? 

11. Did Antony, in your judgment, foresee his influence upon 
the mob? Can you follow his plan? 

12. Describe the Roman mob as you imagine it. 

13. What is it that has made the speeches in this scene so 
famous? Quote the lines from each that you like best. 

14. Read the account of these speeches in Plutarch (pages 
112-114), and then comment upon the changes and improve- 
ments made by Shakespeare in his play. 



ACT III 
Scene 3 

This scene, which shows us the rage of the mob in its lawless 
violence, evidently follows directly after Antony has left the citi- 
zens to run their riot of burning and killing. 

1. to-night: last night, -^ as in II, 2, 76, where Caesar said 
that Calpurnia " dreamt to-night she saw my statue. '' 

2. things unlucky charge my fantasy: things of bad omen 
weigh on my imagination. 

3. forth of doors : out of doors. 

9. directly : clearly, explicitly. Do you remember where Ma- 
rullus said to one of this same group of Roman citizens, " Answer 
me directly " ? 

18. you'll bear me a bang for that. That is, you'll get a 
whack from me for saying that. i_ 

27. Cinna. The conspirator was Cornelius Cinna; this 1$ 
Helvius Cinna. 

34. turn him going : let him go. 



236 



Act IV, Scene 1. NotCS. 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Is this scene necessary to the development of the plot? 
Would you omit it on the stage to-day? 

2. Explain how this scene might be made the conclusion of 
Scene 2. 

3. What is there rather grim and even a bit humorous in this 
short scene? 

4. Can you see how this scene may serve as a means of 
'^ comic relief" in the unbroken course of tragedy? (Compare 
this with the famous Porter^s Scene in "Macbeth.") 



ACT IV 

After the first scene the entire act is devoted to the unfolding 
of the character of Brutus, whom we see placed in the most in- 
teresting and moving situations, — the quarrel and reconciliation 
with Cassius, the reception of the news of Portia's death, the 
night scene with the boy Lucius, the interview with the ghost. 
Every detail is meant to exalt our estimate of the nobility of 
Brutus. Historically this is not an accurate picture of the man 
as he was. In making him his hero Shakespeare naturally exag- 
gerates his virtues and overlooks many of his faults. 

Scene 1 

Some time has evidently elapsed since Caesar's death. In 
reality this meeting of the three men, who formed the Second 
Triumvirate, occurred in November, 43 B.C., nineteen months 
after the events of Act III. 

A house in Rome. History tells us that the actual meeting 
place was on an island in the river Rhenus near Bononia (now 
Bologna). Do you see any particular reason for Shakespeare's 
transferring it to Rome? 

237 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 1. 



I. their names are pricked : marked. 

Will you be pricked in number of our friends, 
Or shall we on, and not depend on you ? 

(Ill, I, 217, and note.) 

6. with a spot I damn him : with a mark (a prick) I con- 
demn him to death. 

9. charge : expense. Antony proposes to use some of Caesar's 
legacies, of which he spoke in his oration to the people, for war 
expenses against Brutus and Cassius. 

II. Or here, or. Notice other uses of this expression for 
either . . , or in these last two acts. 

12. slight: insignificant. Cf. Brutus' "Away, slight man!" 
(IV, 3, 37.) unmeritable : without merit. 

14. The three-fold world : Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

16. took his voice who : took his vote as to who, etc. 

20. divers slanderous loads : various disagreeable charges. 

22. business : Here pronounced in three syllables, bus-i-ness. 
So sol-di-er in line 28 below. 

27. commons : The commons of an English village in Shake- 
speare's time were the pasture lands held in common by the 
townspeople for their catde. Boston " Common " was originally 
such a public grazing field. 

30. appoint him store of provender. That is, provide him 
with an abundance of corn and hay. 

32. wind: turn, wheel. 

33. His corporal motion: the movements of his body, his 
physical motion. 

34. in some taste : in a sense, in some ways. 

36. barren-spirited : lacking spirit, or character. 

37. abjects: things thrown away, leavings. orts : scraps, 
broken fragments, — about the same as " abjects." 

37-39. " Lepidus is a man," says Antony, " who is always inter- 
ested in things that everybody else has grown tired of and thrown 
aside." [The Folio reading of " abjects, orts " is " objects, arts," 
changed by Staunton, and generally adopted by later editions.] 

238 



II 



Act IV, Scene 1. NotCS. 



38. staled: made stale or common. 

39. Begin his fashion: "Are the newest fashion with him." 
(Clarendon.) 

40. a property : a piece of property, a tool, — which we can 
use as we wish. 

41. Listen great things. Later in the play we have "Hst a 
word," and in " Much Ado about Nothing," " To listen our 
purpose." The omission of prepositions was common in Eliza- 
bethan English. 

42. powers : forces. straight make head. That is, we must 
raise an army at once. 

44. our means stretched. We must exert ourselves to the 
utmost. The line is defective ; it will not scan. Many altera- 
tions have been suggested, one of which will do for a sample : 
" Our best friends made secure, our means stretched out." 

45. presently: at once, — as often in Shakespeare. 

46. How covert matters, etc. As to how secret, hidden 
matters, etc. 

47. answered : faced, met. 

48. 49. at the stake, and bayed about, etc. The figure is 
from the old spprt of bear-baiting, in which a bear was tied to a 
stake to be " bayed " at, bitten, and tormented by a pack of 
dogs. When besieged in his castle and attacked on every side 
by his enemies, Macbeth exclaims. 

They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly, 
But, bear -like, I must fight the course. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Discuss Antonyms reasons for sending Lepidus to Caesar's 
house. 

2. What opinion do you form of Lepidus from this scene? 

3. In what ways does Antony seem to have changed since we 
last saw him in Act III ? 

4. Does Octavius give any indications of being the man who 
is later to oppose and conquer Antony .^^ 

239 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 2. 

5. What is the purpose of this scene? Can you explain why 
it is generally omitted on the stage to-day ? 



ACT IV 

Scene 2 

Historically this scene takes place nearly a year after the meet- 
ing between Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus. The remaining 
events of the play occur in the autumn of 42 B.C., about two 
years and a half after the feast of the Lupercalia in 44, when the 
action of the drama began. 

Sardis. An ancient city of Asia Minor, the capital of Lydia. 
The account of the action about Sardis, and the quarrel between 
Brutus and Cassius, is taken with but slight change from Plutarch. 

5. To do you salutation : to salute you. So in " Richard III," 
" The early village cock hath twice done salutation to the morn," 
and similarly we have had already in this play '' none too poor to 
do him reverence," and " Do grace to Caesar's corse." 

6. He greets me well. That is, his greeting finds me well, or 
possibly "his greeting is friendly." 

7. In his own change, etc. By a change of his feelings toward 
me, or through the misconduct of his officers. 

12. full of regard: full of qualities worthy of esteem, as in 
III, I, 225, " Our reasons are so full of good regard^ 

14. How: as to how, — as often in Shakespeare. resolved: 
informed. 

16. familiar instances : instances or examples of familiarity ; 
"assurances of friendship." 

21. enforced ceremony • artificial courtesy. 

23. hot at hand : restless, spirited when held in check. Notice 
that the figure from horsemanship continues through the four 
lines following. 

26. fall their crests : let fall, lower their crests — that is lose 

240 



Act IV, Scene 3. NoteS. 



their courage, are crestfallen, jades : old, worn-out, worthless 
horses; nags. 

40. sober: serious. 

41. be content: contain, restrain yourself; be calm. 

46. enlarge your griefs : set forth your grievances at large or 
fully. 

48. charges : troops under their charge^ or command. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What do you imagine has been taking place since Brutus 
and Cassius were driven from Rome ? 

2. In what way does Brutus here remind you of Brutus the 
conspirator? 

3. Does it seem more natural for Brutus than for Cassius to 
suggest that they conceal their quarrel from the soldiers? Why? 

4. Is this scene necessary to the development of the plot? 
What would be lost were it omitted on the stage? 

5. Has your interest in the play begun to flag now that Caesar 
is dead? 

ACT IV 

Scene 3 

2. noted : set a mark or stigma upon him ; disgraced him. 
Shakespeare took the expression " condemned and noted " 
directly from Plutarch. 

4. praying on his side : pleading in his behalf. 

5. slighted off. We should say. simply " slighted." 

8. every nice offence, etc. That is, every petty, trivial offence 
should bear its comment, or be criticized. 

10. condemned to have : accused of having. an itching palm. 
The expression is explained by the next line. An interesting 
comparison is our slang word " palm-grease," — money given as 
a bribe or tip. 

241 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 3. 



11. mart: sell, barter, — a contraction of market, used more 
frequently as a noun. 

16. chastisement : punishment. " Your name and position, 
Cassius, protects you in this practice of selling your offices for 
gold." 

20. What villain, etc. That is, who of those that killed Cae- 
sar was such a villain as to stab him with any other motive 
except justice ? 

27. bay the moon. Compare this with line 121 of Goldsmith's 
" Deserted Village " : 

" The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind." 

28. bait : provoke, anger. Several editors have substituted 
"bay," thus making Cassius repeat the word and thought of 
Brutus. Is this change necessary? Is it an improvement? 

30. hedge me in : hamper, restrict me, — by interfering with 
my affairs. 

32. To make conditions. That is, to arrange the terms on 
which offices should be distributed and the campaign conducted. 
Go to. An expression of exhortation, and sometimes of scorn, 
common in Shakespeare, and about equivalent to our well, come 
now, or bosh. 

Well then, it now appears you need my help ; 
Go to, then ; you come to me, and you say, 
* Shylock, we would have moneys.' 

("Merchant of Venice," I, 3, 104-106.) 

36. Have mind upon your health : Consider your safety. 

37. slight : insignificant, petty. Of whom did Antony say 
earlier in this act, " This is a slight unmeritable man "? 

38. Is't possible? Cassius'. questions in lines 41 and 50 below 
also refer, of course, to Brutus' language and attitude toward him. 

39. rash choler : quick and irritable temper. 

45. observe you : treat you with reverence. 

46. testy: fretful, irritable. 

47. the venom of your spleen : the poison of your ill temper. 
The spleen, an organ near the stomach, was formerly considered 

242 



Act IV, Scene 3. NoteS. 



the seat of various emotions ; hence its figurative use to-day for 
ill temper^ spitefulness^ melancholy^ etc. 

48. Though it do split you. That is, though the digesting of 
the poison cause you agony. So we speak of a splitting head- 
ache or pain. 

50. waspish : snappy, irritable, quick to sting like a wasp. 
Compare this word with wolfish^ bearish^ currish^ mulish, foxy, 
elephantine, etc. 

52. vaunting : boasting, bragging. 

54. noble. Some of the editors have substituted ^^ abler" for 
noble, referring to what Cassius said above, " Older in practice, 
abler than yourself." Why does this change seem unnecessary 
and unwise ? 

69. respect : regard, heed, — the usual meaning in Shake- 
speare. 

73. drachmas. The drachma was a Greek coin equal to about 
twenty cents. Where have we had the word before? 

75. 'indirection. Literally, an action not direct or straight 
and so dishonest means, or "crookedness." Qi. '^ \\\^ straight 
and narrow path." 

79. covetous : stingy, miserly, avaricious. 

80. To lock such rascal counters, etc. : As to lock up such con- 
temptible coins from his friends. Counters were round pieces 
of metal used in casting accounts and making calculations. Here 
the word is used in contempt for money. 

81. thunderbolts. What is the effect of omitting the " and " 
at the end of the line ? The thunderbolt was regarded by the 
Romans as the peculiar weapon of Jupiter, who hurled it upon 
those mortals with whom he was angry or displeased. 

84. rived: broken, — literally, split or cleaved. Do you re- 
member Casca spoke of having 

seen tempests, when the scolding winds 
Have rived the knotty oaks ? 

91. Olympus. A great mountain of northern Greece, 9750 
feet high, and the fabled residence of the gods. 

243 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 3. 

94. Cassius is aweary of the world. So in " The Merchant 
of Venice " Portia says to Nerissa : '• By my troth, Nerissa, my 
little body is aweary of this great world." (I, 2, 1-2.) 

96. Checked : rebuked, censured. 

97. conned by rote : studied until learned by heart, — like a 
lesson. 

101. Plutus. The Greek god of riches, son of lasion and 
Demeter, who had under his charge all the gold in the earth. 
The Folio reading here is '' Pluto's," plainly a misprint. 

107. it shall have scope. That is, your anger shall have indul- 
gence, — shall be allowed to have its run, — shall have free play. 

108. dishonor shall be humor. I shall consider any dishon- 
orable action the result of mere caprice, — the result of your testy 
humor. 

109. yoked with a lamb : you are united with one who has the 
nature or disposition of a lamb. Pope changed this to ^' with a 
man," and several critics say that " lamb " can hardly be right. 

110. as the flint bears fire. Where did Cassius say, 

I am glad that my weak words 
Have struck but this much show of fire from Brutus ? 

111. much enforced : greatly irritated. 

114. blood ill-tempered : disordered condition. 

118. to bear with : to be patient with. 

119. that rash humor : that hasty, reckless temper. 

Enter Poet. Here again the dramatist follows the story as 
told by Plutarch : " This Favonius at that time, in despite of the 
door-keepers, came into the chamber, and with a certain scoffing 
and mocking gesture, which he counterfeited of purpose, he re- 
hearsed the verses which old Nestor said in Homer : 
' My lords, I pray you hearken both to me. 
For I have seen mo years than suchie three.' 
Cassius fell a-laughing at him ; but Brutus thrust him out of the 
chamber, and called him dog, and counterfeit Cynic. Howbeit 
his coming in brake their strife at that time, and so they left each 
other." 

244 



Act IV, Scene 3. NoteS. 

131. cynic. The Cynics were a sect of Greek philosophers 
founded by Antisthenes, a pupil of the great Socrates. Later 
the name became a symbol of ignorant and insolent self-satisfac- 
tion. Diogenes was the most noted of the Cynics. 

132. sirrah : sir, fellow, — generally used in anger or con- 
tempt, or to an inferior. 

135. jigging : rhyming, ballad-making. 

136. Companion. Used here contemptuously, like our " fel- 
low." 

144. If you give place, etc. : If you give in to misfortunes that 
are beyond your control. 

148. scaped: escaped. — a common form in old English. 
We have to-day '^ scapegallows," a man who has escaped hang- 
ing, though deserving it. In "The Merchant of Venice" 
Launcelot says, "Then to scape drowning thrice." 

150. Upon. What preposition would we use to-day? Im- 

patient of my absence, etc. Notice the confused construction in 
these lines, which are perfectly clear in spite of the loose gram- 
matical structure. How does this confusion of language corre- 
spond, in a way, to Brutus' emotions ? 

153. fell distract : became distracted, crazed. 

154. swallowed fire. " For Portia . . . determining to kill 
herself (her friends carefully looking to her to keep her from it) 
took hot burning coals, and cast them into her mouth, and kept 
her mouth so close that she choked herself." (Plutarch.) 

163. call in question : discuss, talk over. 

168. Bending their expedition: directing their march. 
Philippi. A city of Macedonia in Northern Greece named 
for Philip II who conquered it from Thrace. It fell under the 
Roman power in B.C. i68. It was here that the Apostle Paul 
founded a Christian church, to which he addressed the Epistle 
to the Philippians. 

169. the selfsame tenor : the same general drift or purport. 
171. by proscription and bills of outlawry. That is, by out- 
lawing and proclaiming that they were to be killed and their 

245 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 3. 

property confiscated. Plutarch, in the " Life of Brutus," says, 
" These three . . . did set up Bills of Proscription and Out- 
lawry, condemning two hundred of the noblest men of Rome to 
suffer death ; and amongst that number, Cicero was one." 

181. Nor nothing. Notice the intensive force which the 
double negative has here. Compare this with " Yet 'twas not a 
crown neither " in I, 2, 236. 

182. methinks : it seems to me. This word, now rarely used 
except in poetry, is not our "think," but is derived from the 
Anglo-Saxon thincan : to seem. 

189. once : sometime or other, sooner or later. 

192. in art : in theory, in my stoic philosophy. 

192, 193. Cassius means that he would not have the ability to 
bear calmly so sad a loss, though in theory he believes, with 
Brutus and other Stoics, that to give way to grief or strong 
emotion is unmanly and weak. 

194. to our work alive : to the work that we the living have 
to do, — without further thinking upon the dead, that is, Portia. 

195. presently : at once, — as usually in Shakespeare. 
199. offence : injury, harm. 

201. of force : of necessity, perforce. 

207. new-added: reenforced, "newly-added to." 

210. These people at our back. That is, " the people 'twixt 
Philippi and this ground " behind us, and not facing us in the 
army of Antony and Octavius. 

211. Under your pardon: Pardon me. Why does Brutus ask 
Cassius to pardon him? 

218. Omitted: neglected. 

220. a full sea. That is, the tide " taken at the flood." 
222. ventures : goods, merchandise, whatever was ventured or 
risked on shipboard in hope of profit. The word is frequently 
used in this sense in " The Merchant of Venice," as, 
I thank my fortune for it 
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, 
Nor to one place. (I, i, 41-43.) 

246 



Act IV, Scene 3. NotCS. 



222. with your will : as you wish. 

226. niggard : supply stingily, sparingly. Craik says " this is 
probably the only instance in the language in which niggard 
is used as a verb." 

239. knave: boy, — here used aifectionately, though in Shake- 
speare^s time the word had begun to take on the modern mean- 
ing of rogue, rascal, and sometimes it is so iised by the poet, 
overwatched : worn out with watching. 

240. other: others, — as often in Shakespeare. 

249. I shall otherwise bethink me : I shall possibly think, or 
decide, otherwise. 

253. Bear with me : Be patient with me. 

256. an't: if it. 

266. mace. The club, or staff, borne by an officer of justice. 
Here Slumber, which the poet calls " murderous " because sleep 
is regarded as the image of death, is spoken of as an officer 
arresting Lucius by touching him with his mace. ^'Leaden" 
suggests the heaviness of sleep. 

271. What is the effect of the repeated " Let me see "? the 
leaf turned down. The Romans, of course, had no books with 
leaves that " turned down," any more than they had clocks that 
struck the hour. This is only one more illustration of the way 
in which Shakespeare gives to the Romans of the first century 
B.C. the customs and conditions of England in his own time. 

273. How ill this taper burns! According to an old supersti- 
tion, the approach of a ghost would cause lights to burn dimly. 
In '^ Richard the Third," when the ghosts first appear, Richard 
exclaims, " The lights burn blue ! " 

278. to stare : to stand stiff, to bristle, — much as we say " to 
stand on end." 

285. Now I have taken heart. Similarly in " Macbeth " when 
the ghost of Banquo vanishes, Macbeth says, " Why so ; being 
gone, 1 am a man again." {'' Macbeth," III, 4, 108.) 

289. false: out of tune. 

305. set on his powers betimes before : have his forces ad- 

247 



Notes. Act IV, Scene 3. 

vance early. Where did Caesar say, ''Set on; and leave no 
ceremony out '^ ? 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. With whom do you sympathize in the famous quarrel be- 
tween the two generals ? Give your reasons. 

2. How does each of the generals show his true character in 
the quarrel ? 

3. Explain just why Brutus was vexed with Cassius. 

4. What is there dramatic about the quarrel? Can you see 
why it makes an effective scene on the stage even to-day? 

5. What do you think of Cassius in lines 92-106? Do you 
think he is sincere or speaking simply for effect? 

6. How do you explain the reconciliation in lines 115-121? 
What leads naturally to it? 

7. How does the interruption of the poet bring the generals 
closer together again? Does this interruption serve any other 
purpose ? 

8. Does it seem natural for Brutus not to have spoken of Portia 
sooner? 

9. Do you admire or disHke Brutus for his apparent lack of 
emotion? Do you think he is really indifferent to Portia? 

10. Point out two other places where Brutus and Cassius dis- 
agreed as to the conduct of affairs. Who so far has offered the 
wiser counsel? 

11. Do you agree with Brutus or Cassius in their plans for the 
approaching battle? 

12. Why do you think Shakespeare has Brutus again informed 
of Portia's death ? 

13. What does the news concerning Cicero show us of condi- 
tions in Rome? 

14. Compare the first scene in which we saw Lucius with this 
one in Brutus' tent before Sardis. How are they somewhat 
alike ? 

248 



Act V, Scene 1. NotCS. 



15. What effect upon the audience has the music and song of 
Lucius? Also his sleepiness, and the words of Brutus just before 
the ghost enters ? 

16. What is there in this ghost scene that makes it on the 
stage even to-day one of the most dramatic and stirring moments 
of the play? 

17. Can you name other plays by Shakespeare in which ghosts 
appear? 

18. What is. there similar in the warning words of the ghost 
and the soothsayer at the opening of the play ? 

19. How would you stage this scene, especially the make-up 
and actions of the ghost? 

20. Can you explain why such a supernatural scene as this 
had a more profound effect upon an audience in Shakespeare's 
time than it does to-day? 



ACT V 

Historically, there were two battles at Philippi, separated by an 
interval of two weeks. It is the earlier of these battles that the 
poet adopts as the ground-work of his representation, though the 
death of Brutus took place immediately after the second. Such 
changes of time are common in Shakespeare, as in all historical 
drama and historical romance. 

Scene 1 

The brief but sharp disagreement between Octavius and Antony 
(17-20) is not in Plutarch, who, however, does speak of a dis- 
agreement between Brutus and Cassius on the same question as 
to which one should take command of the right wing, or the 
position of honor. Cassius, the older man, yields to Brutus in 
this matter, as we have seen him do whenever difference of opinion 
arose between them. This grudging acquiescence of Antony in 
the leadership of young Octavius the poet invents as a foil to set 

249 



Notes. Act V, Scene 1. 



off the ready and willing deference paid by Cassius to Brutus. 
We are not told in the play that Brutus went into the battle in 
command of the right of his army ; but as we learn from V, 3, 
51-53, that Brutus' wing confronted that of Octavius, and have 
seen that Octavius has insisted on having the command of his 
own right, we must infer that the poet, if he thought the matter 
out, gave to Brutus the subordinate position on the left, choosing 
herein to differ from his authority. Plutarch tells us : " Brutus 
prayed Cassius he might have the leading of the right wing, the 
which men thought was farre meeter for Cassius : both because 
he was the elder man, and also for that he had the better experi- 
ence. But yet Cassius gave it to him," etc. In his life of Antony, 
Plutarch says : '' When they had passed over the seas, and that 
they began to make warre, they being both camped by their 
enemies, to wit, Antonius against Cassius, and Caesar against 
Brutus : Caesar did no great matter, but Antonius had alway the 
upper hand, and did all." It is interesting to consider why 
Shakespeare, who in so many things follows Plutarch exactly, 
prefers not to follow him in this. 

Several days have elapsed since the previous scene in Brutus' 
tent near Sardis. It is the autumn of B.C. 42, and the day has 
come that ** must end that work the ides of March begun." For 
Philippi, see note on IV, 3, 168. 

1. our hopes are answered : our wishes are granted. 

3. regions. Pronounced in three syllables, re-gi-ons^ like 
"sol-di-er" in IV, i, 28. 

4. battles : battle array, battalions. 

5. warn : summon, challenge to fight. 

7. I am in their bosoms : I know their real motives ; I see into 
their hearts. We speak of a bosom friend, and a bosom sin, with 
much the same significance. 

8. they could be content : they would be glad, or would prefer. 
10. With fearful bravery : with bravado, or a show of bravery, 

that is full of fear, and in reality, cowardly. " With timorous, 
faint-hearted show of bravery." this face : this appearance, 

250 



Act V, Scene 1. NotCS. 

this show, this outward effect, — as we speak of '^ putting on a 
hold/ace,^^ and '' facing \\. out." 

14. Their bloody sign of battle. According to Plutarch, "the 
Signall of Battell . . . was an arming Scarlet Coat." 

15. something to be done : something should be done. 

16. lead your battle softly on : lead your forces slowly on. 

19. exigent : exigency, critical moment. 

20. I will do so. That is, I will do as I have said, — lead the 
right wing. This gives us a glimpse of the true character of 
Octavius, who, as history tells us, always stood firm against 
Antony. Even here, when but a youth of twenty-one, he shows 
the stuff that later made him the great Emperor Augustus. 

24. answer on their charge : await their attack ; let them begin 
the battle. 

25. Make forth: " step forward " (Craik). 

33. The posture of your blows : The place where your blows 
are to fall ; or possibly, *^ The nature of your blows."* 

34. the Hybla bees. Classical writers often speak of Hybla in 
Sicily as a town famous for its honey. Cassius, of course, is 
speaking tauntingly. Our expression " honeyed Yfords'''' suggests 
beguiling, flattering language, — "smooth talk," — and is not 
exactly complimentary. 

41-44. Compare these lines with the scene in the Capitol 
when Caesar was slain. Is it a faithful or an exaggerated 
description of the assassination ? 

46. This tongue : that is, Antony's tongue. To what does 
Cassius refer ? 

48. the cause : the real issue ; " let's get down to business! " 

49. The proof of it. That is, the proof of the matter about 
which they are arguing, namely, the real fighting. 

52. goes up again : is again put into its sheath. 

53. three and thirty wounds. Plutarch gives the number of 
wounds as twenty-ihro^e. ; but to change Shakespeare's statement 
is to make arithmetic out of poetry. What is the difference, any- 
way? 

251 



Notes. Act V, Scene 1. 

54, 55. till another Caesar have added slaughter, etc. That 
is, until my own death has added another Caesar to the list of 
those murdered by the swords of traitors. " Either you or I 
shall die," says Octavius. 

59. thy strain : thy race, thy family. 

60. honorable. We should say " honorably,'' but Shakespeare 
frequently uses an adjective for an adverb. 

61. peevish : foolish, silly. Remember that Octavius at this 
time was only twenty-one, hence Cassius' taunting " schoolboy." 

62. a masker and a reveller. Where did Brutus say of Antony, 
" he is given to sports, to wildness and much company " ? 

66. stomachs : spirit, courage. " He which hath no stomach 
to this fight, let him depart." (" Henry V," IV, 3, 35.) 

68. all is on the hazard : all depends on the fortune of war. 

71. as this very day. In this phrase " as " is redundant, or 
unnecessary for the sense. So Shakespeare often has " when as " 
where we should use merely "as." 

74. As Pompey was. This is an allusion to the battle of 
Pharsalia, B.C. 48, into which Pompey was forced, against his 
own wishes, by younger and inexperienced officers. He was 
easily defeated by Julius Caesar. 

74, 75. to set upon one battle, etc. : to risk our independence 
upon one battle ; to stake everything on one fight. 

76. I held Epicurus strong : I strongly believed in the teach- 
ings of Epicurus. The followers of this Greek philosopher be- 
lieved that the gods were concerned but little with human affairs, 
and that pleasure was the chief end of life. As an Epicurean, 
Cassius would therefore not pay much attention to signs or omens. 

78. presage: portend, foretell things to come. 

79. our former ensign : our foremost banner. 
82. consorted: accompanied. 

84. kites. The kite is a small bird of prey of the falcon family. 
Ravens and crows were generally regarded as birds of evil omen. 

86. As we were sickly prey : as if we were weak and feeble 
prey (for them to devour). 

252 



Act V, Scene 1. NotCS. 



91. constantly: firmly. So in III, 1,22, Brutus said, ^'Cas- 
sius, be constant." 

92. Even so : just so, quite true. This refers, of course, to 
something LuciUus has just said, which we have not heard. 

93. The gods to-day stand friendly: May the gods be friendly 
to us to-day ! 

94. Lovers: friends, — as in Brutus' address to the people, 
'^ Romans, countrymen, and lovers! " and so often in Shakespeare. 

96. Let's reason with the worst, etc. Let's confer together in 
view of the possible ruin of our cause in the impending battle. 

100. Even by the rule, etc. That is, I am determined to act 
in accordance with that rule, or principle, by which I condemned 
Cato for killing himself. Brutus then goes on to explain further 
his feelings against suicide. 

104, 105. so to prevent the time of life : to anticipate the 
end of life by suicide. 

106. stay : await. 

110, 111. In these lines Brutus seems strangely inconsistent. 
First he declares that he will not take his own life, — that " he 
finds it cowardly and vile " to commit suicide, — and that he will 
await patiently the action of Providence. Then in the next 
breath, when Cassius asks him whether he will be '^contented 
to be led in triumph Thorough the streets of Rome,'' he very 
decidedly implies that rather than be so degraded he will kill 
himself. It has been suggested that the humiliation mentioned 
by Cassius alters his purpose ; but such a sudden and complete 
change of mind, just after his strong words against suicide, seems 
most improbable. The explanation probably lies in the bad punc- 
tuation and confusing translation of North's " Plutarch," which 
Shakespeare followed so closely, and here, we must admit, so 
blindly, that he wrote a passage that not only seems weak and 
inconsistent, but one that does not give the facts as the old 
Greek historian stated them. Plutarch in reality tells us that 
Brutus m his youth blamed Cato for killing himself, but that now 
before the battle, he was of a different opinion. 

'^S2 



Notes. ^^* ^' Scene 2. 

We must remember, however, that Shakespeare wrote his plays 
to be acted on the stage, not studied intensively ; and not one 
person in a hundred at the theatre, then or to-day, would notice 
this inconsistency. It is therefore a matter of little importance, 
except as it shows us to-day the methods of composition which 
the dramatist used. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Comment upon the words of Octavius in line 20, in relation 
to his later control over Antony and the Roman Empire. 

2. What is there in the wrangling parley of the four generals 
that pleased the audience in Shakespeare's time? 

3. Contrast this verbal battle with the methods of modern 
warfare. 

4. Can you explain why this wrangling scene is nearly always 
omitted on the stage to-day? 

5. What do you think of the omens of which Cassius speaks? 
Compare these with other superstitions in the play. 

6. How does Shakespeare suggest to us that Brutus and 
Cassius will be defeated in the approaching battle? 

7. Which of the two generals seems to you the wiser military 
leader? Why? 

8. What is there noble and moving in the parting scene 
between Brutus and Cassius? Quote any lines you particularly 
admire. 



ACT V 
Scene 2 

Alarum: notes on a bugle or horn; a call to arms. This 
older form of " alarm " is common in Shakespeare. See opening 
of Scene 3 just below. 

1. bUls: notes, dispatches. This is the word used by Plu- 
tarch in the '^ Life of Brutus.'' 

254 



Act V, Scene 3. NotCS. 

2. on the other side. That is, on the left wing which was 
comnianded by Cassius. 

4. cold demeanor : a Hfeless, indifferent manner. 



ACT V 
Scene 3 

2. to my own. That is, to one of my own army, — the 
standard-bearer referred to in the next lines. 

4. it: the standard. The word "ensign'' was used then, 
as it is to-day, both for the flag and the man who carried it. 
Here Cassius uses the word with both meanings in the same 
sentence. 

7. Took it too eagerly : followed up too eagerly the advan- 
tage which he gained over Octavius. fell to spoil : went to 
work plundering. According to Plutarch, whom Shakespeare 
follows closely here, Cassius was " marvellous angry to see how 
Brutus men ran to give charge upon their Enemies, and tarried 
not for the word of the Battell, nor commandment to give 
charge : and it grieved him beside, that after he had overcome 
them, his men fell straight to spoil, and were not careful to com- 
pass in the rest of the Enemies behind.'' It was against Cassius' 
best judgment that Brutus was given command of the right wing, 
a concession which this time leads to fatal consequences. 

18. yond : yonder. Where did Caesar say, 

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ? 

19. with a thought : as quick as thought ; " in the twinkling 
of an eye." 

21. My sight was ever thick. Plutarch's words are, " How- 
i)eit, Cassius himself saw nothing, for his sight was very bady 
saving that he saw (and yet with much ado) how the Enemies 
:i5poiled his Camp before his eyes." 

Pindarus ascends the hill. Here probably Pindarus went up 
to the balcony over the inner stage. See page 173. 

255 



Kotes, Act V, Scene 3. 

25. My life is run his compass. In the words of Macbeth, 

I have lived long enough ; my way of life 
^ Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf. 

31. light : alight, dismount. 

38. I swore thee, saving of thy life : I made thee swear when 
I saved thy life, — or spared thee. 

42. search : pierce, probe. 

43. hilts. A common use in Shakespeare, where we should 
say "hilt'' for the handle of a sword. 

61. It is but change. The battle is an interchange of victory 
and defeat. 

66. Mistrust of good success : doubt as to the issue. In 
Shakespeare's time the word " success " often meant simply 
" outcome," " issue," and thus needed a qualifying adjective 
such as " good " here. So Caesar said. 

Go bid the priests do present sacrifice. 
And bring me their opinions of success. 

(II, 2, 6.) 

68. the apt thoughts : the impressionable, receptive thoughts. 

70. happy : fortunate. 

84. misconstrued. Pronounced here misconstrued, as in 
"The Merchant of Venice," II, 2, 171, "I be misconstrued in 
the place I go to." 

86. bid. Shakespeare often uses this form, as well as bade^ 
for the past tense of "bid." Cf. "that tongue that bade the 
Romans mark him." (1,2,125-126.) 

88. regarded : esteemed, reverenced. 

94. Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet, etc. Hudson re- 
marks on this passage, " Brutus here strikes the proper keynote 
of the play." He then quotes Froude : "The murderers of 
Caesar, . . . such of them as were in Italy were immediately 
killed. Those in the provinces, as if with the curse of Cain upon 
their heads, came one by one to miserable ends. In three years 

256 



Aet V, Scene 3. NotCS. 

the tyrannicides of the Ides of March, with their aides and abet- 
tors, were all dead ; some killed in battle, some in prison, some 
dying by their own hand." 

Remember, too, Antony's prophecy over Caesar's body in 
Act III : 

A curse will light upon the limbs of men ; 
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, 
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice 
Cry " Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war. 

96. In our own proper entrails: into our own entrails. 
^'Proper" simply emphasizes "own." 

97. whether. Here a word of one syllable, probably pro- 
nounced " whe'r," as in I, I ^ 62 : 

See, whether their basest metal be not moved. 

101. fellow: equal counterpart. moe : more, — an old 

comparative of "many." Do you remember where Lucius says, 
" No, sir, there are moe with him " ? 

104. Thasos. An island in the ^gean sea off the coast of 
Thrace where, according to Plutarch, Cassius was buried. 

105. funerals. Although we use this word to-day in the sin- 
gular form, we still speak of nuptials, 

108. set our battles on : move forward our army ; advance 
our line. 

109. ere night. This second battle in reality did not take 
place for twenty days. Why does Shakespeare transfer it to the 
day of the first conflict? Does this change seem justifiable 
to you ? 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Explain, after reading page 173, how probably in Shake- 
speare's time this scene of Pindarus on the hill was acted. 

2. Why did Cassius kill himself.? What has he said about 
suicide earlier in the play? 

257 



Notes. Act V, Scene 4 



3. Explain the actions of Titinius, as you understand them. 
What caused Cassius to " misconstrue everything '' ? 

4. What does Titinius mean by exclaiming, just before he 
stabs himself, " This is a Roman's part " ? 

5. Explain and comment upon Brutus' words upon finding 
the body of Cassius, *'* O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! " 

6. Compare Brutus' words and constrained feelings here with 
his manner upon hearing of Portia's death. 

7. Do you admire Cassius in this scene? Has he risen or 
fallen in your estimation since the beginning of the play? Dis- 
cuss in detail. 



ACT V 

Scene 4 

2. What bastard doth not ? " Who is such a base-born coward 
as not to do so ? " 

7, 8. And I am Brutus, etc. In the Folio no name is given to 
the speaker of these two lines, so that we may give them to 
Lucilius instead of Brutus. This is possibly the better arrange- 
ment, in view of what takes place immediately following. 

12. Only I yield to die. I yield only in order to die. 

13. There is so much, etc. " Here, I give thee so much money 
on condition that thou wilt kill me at once." Considering the 
fact that the stage-direction, offering money ^ is not in the Folios, 
Lucilius may mean that so much can be laid to his charge that 
the soldier is certain to kill him at once. Remember that Lu- 
cilius is pretending to be Brutus in order to lead the soldiers of 
Antony and Octavius away from his general. 

16. Brutus is ta'en, etc. This incident of Lucilius' pretending 
to be Brutus is taken from Plutarch. 

24. or alive or dead. This use oior , . , or for either , . , or 
is still common in poetry. 

32. is chanced : has befallen, has turned out. 

258 . 






Act V, Scene 5. NotCS, 



ACT V 
Scene 5 

2. Statilius show'd the torch-light. Plutarch\s account of this 
incident runs as follows: ^*' There was one called Statilius, that 
promised to go through his enemies, for otherwise it was impos- 
sible to see their camp: and from thence, if all were well, that 
he would lift up a torch-light in the air, and then return again 
with speed to him. The torch-light was lifted up as he had 
promised, for Statilius went thither. Now Brutus seeing Sta- 
tilius tarry long after that, and that he came not again, he said, 
^ If Statilius be alive, he will come again.' But his evil fortune 
was such that, as he came back, he lighted in his enemies' hands 
and was slain." 

3. He came not back. We should say, ^^ he has "not come 
back." or ta'en or slain : either taken or slain. Where before 
have you noticed this or ... or construction ? 

5. Whispering. This stage direction is not found in the Folio 
edition of the plays, but was added by the early editors. 

13. that noble vessel. The figurative use of the word vessel 
for a person, suggesting the fitness or capacity to contain some- 
thing or other, was common in Shakespeare's time. Thus we 
find in the Bible : " he is a chosen vessel unto me " ; '" the vessel 
of wrath " ; " giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel.^"* 

14. That it runs : so that it runs over. What is Brutus doing? 
19. Philippi fields. "The Romans called the Valley between 

both Camps, the Philippian Fields." (Plutarch, " Life of Brutus.") 
23. have beat us to the pit : have beaten and driven us, as 
hunters drive animals, to the edge of the pitfall. 

27. Even for that our love of old: for the sake of our old 
friendship. prithee. An old and abbreviated form of the 
expression pray thee. Who was it that earlier in the play said; 
" I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house " ? 

28. sword-hilts. For a similar use of the plural hilts^ see V, 
3, 43, and note. 

259 



Notes. Act V, Scene 5. 

45. of a good respect : of good esteem ; held in high regard. 
Similarly in I, 2, 59, Cassius said, " many of the best respect in 
Rome.'' 

46. smatch : smack, taste. 

50. Caesar, now be still. Brutus refers to Caesar's ghost, 
which, as we know, had been restless and walked the earth. 
Now that the murder has been avenged the spirit will '' be still." 

55. can but make a fire of him. This refers to the custom 
among the Romans of burning their dead on the funeral pyre. 

60. I will entertain them : I will take them into my service. 

61. bestow thy time with me : give up thy time to me ; enter 
my service. 

62. prefer: recommend. In the "Merchant of Venice" Bas- 
sanio says to Launcelot, 

I. know thee well ; thou hast obtained thy suit : 
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day. 
And hath preferred thee. 

69. save only he : except only him. The nominative case 
after prepositions was common in all writers of Shakespeare's 
time. 

71, 72. in a general honest thought, etc. Brutus, declares An- 
tony, acted, as he honestly thought, for the good of all. This is 
one of those involved Shakespearean sentences the meaning of 
which, however, is perfectly clear. 

73, 74. the elements so mixed in him, etc. According to a 
commonly accepted belief of Shakespeare's time, man was com- 
posed of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water. Human 
perfection depended upon a well-balanced mixture of these four 
elements or ^'humours." 

76. virtue : worth, character. 

79. ordered honorably : treated with honor. 

80. call the field to rest : sound the signal for the army in the 
field to cease fighting. 

81. part : divide, share. 

260 



Act V, Scene 5. NoteS. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What is the effect of the whispering and rapid conversation 
at the opening of this scene? 

2. Why does Shakespeare have Brutus ask three of his com- 
panions to hold his sword before Strato consents to do the deed? 

3. Comment upon Brutus' words : 

My heart doth joy that yet in all my life 
I found no man but he was true to me. 

4. What effect have the one-syllable words of these two noble 
lines ? 

5. Contrast the deaths of Cassius and Brutus. Which seems 
to you to make the more pathetic scene? 

6. Describe the setting of the stage as you would have it at 
the close of the play. 

7. Discuss Antony's last speech in view of what you know of 
Brutus and the other conspirators. 

8. Are you pleased with the conclusion of the tragedy? 
Would it have been better, in your judgment, to have Brutus* 
and Cassius live? 

9. What decided the fate of the battle? 

10. Do you think the play would be more appropriately en- 
titled " Brutus '' ? Discuss fully. 



261 



SUBJECTS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS 

[Other subjects for discussion and written exercises will be found at 
the end of the notes on each scene. Subjects starred (*) are taken 
from various college entrance examination papers.] 

INCIDENTS IN THE PLAY 

1. The Clash between Tribunes and Commoners. 

[Describe the scene and explain the actions and feelings of Flavius, 
Marullus, and the mob. Bring out the effect of this scene upon the 
audience.] 

2. Marullus Rebukes the Mob.^ 

[Put into your own words the fine speech of Marullus, I, i, 33-56. 
Discuss the spirit in which it is spoken, and the way the people 
take it.] 

3. The Procession. 

[Describe the entrance of Caesar in I, 2. What opportunities are 
there for making a gorgeous spectacle of this scene? How would you 
stage it in a performance of the play to-day?] 

4. Hatching the Conspiracy.^ 

[How did Cassius set about to win Brutus? Explain his motive 
and his methods.] 

5. The Influence of Cassius over Casca. 

[Explain how Cassius wins Casca to the conspiracy. Contrast his 
methods in I, 3 with those used when talking with Brutus in the pre- 
vious scene.] 

263 



Subjects for Compositions. 

6. The Plot against Caesar is Formed.^ 

[Tell the story of the meeting in Brutus' orchard. Try to make 
your account spirited and dramatic] 

7. The Advice of Brutus concerning Mark Antony. 

[Give the reasons for Brutus' wishing to spare Antony. Why was 
his advice accepted? How did he blunder?] 

8. Brutus and Portia. 

[The story of their interview after the departure of the conspirators. 
What is the effect of this scene upon your interest in the plot?] 

9. Caesar Changes His Mind. 

[Show how Calpurnia mduced Caesar to remain at home, and then 
how Decius Brutus prevailed upon him to go to the senate.] 

10. The Death of Caesar.^ 

[Describe the scene as you see it and tell the story of the murder. 
This may be told in the form of a dialogue between one of the con- 
spirators and a Roman who was not present when Caesar was slain. ] 

11. Brutus Blunders Again. 

[The story of the interview between Antony and the conspirators. 
Make clear Brutus' reasons for allowing Antony to speak at Caesar's 
funeral.] 

12. Brutus' Speech to the Roman Citizens.^ 

[Give his" arguments for killing Caesar, and show their effect upon 
the people.] 

13. The Funeral Oration of Mark Antony.^ 

[Point out the various ways in which Antony holds and finally wins 
the mob.] 

14. The Speeches of Brutus and Antony. 

[Contrast the style and construction of the two speeches. Which 
of the two men is the greater orator? Why?] 

764 



Subjects for Compositions. 



15. The Roman Mob. 



[Explain how the commoners are worked upon by Antony and 
what they .do. Compare their feelings and actions with those of the 
mob that stormed the Bastille, as described by Dickens in " A Tale 
of Two Cities."] 

16. Getting Rid of Lepidus.^ 

[How Antony prevails upon Octavius to set aside their partner.] 

17. The Quarrel.^ 

[The scene and causes of the famous quarrel between Brutus and 
Cassius. Make clear which of the two you sympathize with, and 
why.] 

18. Brutus and Caesar Meet Again. =^ 

[Describe the scene in which Caesar's ghost appears before Brutus 
and the effect it has upon him.] 

19. Wrangling Words before Battle. 

[Read again V, I, 19-66 and contrast this scene with methods of 
modern warfare.] 

20. The Deaths of Cassius and Brutus. 

[Tell how each of the generals meets his end; contrast the feelings 
of Antony and Octavius for their enemies, Cassius and Brutus.] 

GENERAL SUBJECTS 

[The following subjects are less specific than the first twenty. Many 
of them require a consideration of the play as a whole.] 

21. Brutus and Cassius."^ 

[Contrast the characters of these men, especially their motives for 
doing away with Caesar. Give your own personal opinion of each. ] 

22. The Superstitious Element in Caesar's Character. 

[Point out the various superstitions which Caesar shows, and explain 
the effect that these have upon your opinion of the great Roman. ] 

265 



Subjects for Compositions. 

23. A Character Sketch of Caesar. 

[Draw a picture of the Caesar Shakespeare has portrayed in the 
play. If you have read the Gallic War, compare the impression of 
Caesar gained there with Shakespeare's portrayal.] 

24. Caesar's Will.^ 

[Discuss the reading of the will by Antony, its effect upon the mob, 
and the light it throws upon Caesar.] 

26. Caesar's Ambitions. 

[An account of what you have learned from the play of Caesar's 
ambitions, especially from Act I and from the speeches of Brutus and 
Antony in Act III.] 

26. The Part of Portia in the Play. 

[The story of Portia's part in the drama', with your reasons for 
Shakespeare's introducing her at all.] 

27. Friends of Caesar. 

[An account of the different ways in which Caesar was warned of 
impending danger, from the soothsayer's words in I, 2, to Calpurnia's 
dream.] 

28. The Part Played by Cicero. 

[Who was Cicero? What does he do in the tragedy and what 
important references are made to him? See I, 2, 276, II, i, 141-152, 
etc.] 

29. Brutus Justifies Himself.^ 

[Tell in your own words how Brutus justifies his part in the con- 
spiracy. This may be made interesting by being written as a dialogue 
between Brutus and Portia. See II, i, 305-308.] 

30. Details of the Conspiracy. 

[A full account of the plot against Caesar, — reasons for it, by 
whom suggested, names of leaders, meeting place, watchword, plans, 
etc.] 

266 



Subjects for Compositions. 



31. Brutus, the Central Figure of the Play. 

[Point out in detail how it is Brutus rather than Caesar that holds 
our interest as the central figure of the tragedy.] 

32. Brutus the Roman Patriot.^ 

[Show how Brutus was the typical Roman to whom the state, and 
not the individual, was of chief importance. ] 

33. The Climax of the Play. 

[Compare the death of Brutus with that of Caesar as the real climax 
of the drama.] 

34. After the Fall of Caesar. 

[Point out in what ways Shakespeare keeps up our interest in the 
play even after Caesar has been killed.] 

35. The Title of the Play. 

[Why do you think Shakespeare called the tragedy " Julius Caesar," 
rather than " Marcus Brutus" or "The Conspiracy"? Discuss other 
possible titles.] 

36. Shakespeare's Use of Plutarch.^ 

[After reading pages 108-115, explain how the dramatist made use 
of Plutarch's " Lives." What scenes and speeches are his own?] 

37. The Failure of the Conspiracy.^ 

[Explain why Brutus and the other conspirators failed in their great 
object after they had been successful in killing Caesar.] 

38. The Three Great Scenes of the Play. 

[Point out the elements that make the conspiracy in Brutus' 
orchard, the murder of Caesar before the Capitol, and the quarrel of 
the generals stand out as the three most stirring scenes of the tragedy.] 

39. The Minor Scenes of the Play. 

[Imagine yourself a stage manager, and decide what scenes you 
would omit in a presentation of the drama to-day. Give your reasons.] 

267 



Subjects for Compositions. 

40. My Favorite Lines in ^' Julius Caesar." 
[Quote several passages and give reasons for your choice.] 

IMAGINATIVE SUBJECTS 

[The following subjects call for imagination and originality as well 
as knowledge of the play. Some of them may be told in the first per- 
son in the form of a letter or journal. Others may be written in dia- 
logue, or as one-act short plays, which then may be presented by 
members of the class. In all of them, start with the facts and sugges- 
tions given you by Shakespeare. Then use your imagination freely, 
though what you imagine should always be possible and the more 
probable the better.] 

41. The Commoners Talk It Over. 

["They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness " said Flavius, after 
he and MaruUus had berated the citizens. What did they do and say 
after the tribunes left them?] 

42. Disrobing the Images. 

[Follow Flavius and Marullus about the city and describe some 
of their adventures.] 

43. "The Ides of March.'' 

[Describe the soothsayer as you imagine him. How do you think 
he obtained his knowledge of future events ?] 

44. Cassius Saves Caesar's Life. 

[Tell with further details the story of Cassius and Caesar swimming 
in the Tiber. See I, 2, 100-115.] 

45. '' He had a Fever when he was in Spain." 

[Enlarge upon the incident related by Cassius in I, 2, 119-127. 
This may well be told in dialogue.] 

268 



Subjects for Compositions. 



46. Caesar Is Offered a Crown. 

[Have one of the citizens tell the story which Casca relates to 
Brutus and Cassius, remembering Casca's words, "There was more 
foolery yet, if I could remember it."] 

47. Cicero's Speech on the Feast of Lupercal. 

[Casca reports that Cicero "spoke Greek.'* Write his speech in 
your own English, fitting his words and style to your knowledge of the 
great Roman orator.] 

48. Marullus and Flavius Rebuked. 

[" Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are 
put to silence." Tell the story of their experiences.] 

49. Brutus Decides That Caesar Must Die. 

[Give in detail Brutus' reasons for joining Cassius and the other 
conspirators. This may be told in the form of a letter or monologue. ] 

60. The Whispered Conference between Brutus and 
Cassius. 

[Report the whispered conversation while Cinna and Casca are 
discussing which way "lies the east." (II, i, loi ff.) This may well 
be written as a dialogue.] 

51. Portia Overhears the Conspirators. 

[Imagine what might have taken place had Portia been told by 
Lucius, or heard herself, the conversation in the orchard.] 

52. Caesar Reads the Letter of Artemidorus. 

[Read again III, i, i-io, and write an account of the events that 
might have followed had Caesar looked at the " schedule " presented 
to him by Artemidorus.] 

63. Antony Remains with the Conspirators. 

[Trebonius knows his time; ... 

He draws Mark Antony out of the way. 
What might have happened had Trebonius failed?] 

269 



Subjects for Compositions. ^.^^^^ 

64. Antony after the Murder. 

[What did Antony do when he "fled to his house amazed"? Im- 
agine his thoughts, plans, and actions. See III, i, 124-149.] 

55. Octavius Learns of Caesar's Death. 

[Remember that Antony said to the servant, " Post back with speed, 
and tell him what hath chanc'd." Report the scene when the servant 
tells Octavius what he saw in Rome. Put this into a lively dialogue.] 

56. Cassius Addresses the Mob. 

[We have the speeches of Brutus and Antony. Write the speech 
made by Cassius, trying to adapt it to the character of the man as you 
know him.] 

57. Brutus and Cassius Drivers Out of Rome. 

[" Brutus and Cassius are rid like madmen through the gates of 
Rome." Describe the scene, making it as full of action as possible.] 

58. Cassius Loses Control of His Temper. 

["Urge me no more, I shall forget myself." Imagine the scene 
and consequences had Cassius struck Brutus at the height of the 
quarrel. ] 

59. The Death of Portia. 

[Have a servant report to Brutus, or to Cassius, the circumstances 
of Portia's death in Rome.] 

60. Caesar's Ghost Again Appears. 

["Thou shalt see me at Philippi." Write a graphic account of the 
second appearance of the ghost in " PhiHppi fields." This may be 
told by Brutus to Volumnius, or described as a scene by itself.] 



270 



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